GIFT  OF 


oo 


IDEALS 


AND 


DEMOCRACY 

An  Essay  in  Modernism 


By 
ARTHUR  HENRY  CHAMBERLAIN 

Formerly  Dean  of  Throop  Polytechnic  Institute 
Editor  Sierra  Educational  News 


RAND  McNALLY  &  COMPANY 

CHICAGO  NEW  YORK 


By  the  Same  Author 


STANDARDS  IN  EDUCATION 

THE  CONTINENTS 

AND  THEIR  PEOPLE 
(Joint  authorship) 

THE  GROWTH  OP  RESPONSI- 
BILITY AND  ENLARGEMENT 
OP  POWER  OP  THE  CITY 
SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

OF    THE    MANUAL    ARTS 

DESIGN    AND    CONSTRUCTION 
(Joint  authorship) 

TECHNICAL 

EDUCATION  IN  GERMANY 


;  H.  CHAMBERLAIN 


ZDebicatcb 

to  my 
Jfatfier  anb 


THE  INTRODUCTION 

THE  title  of  this  book  is  its  own  best  introduction. 
The  theme  should  be  of  interest  to  all  classes  and 
conditions  of  people.  The  treatment  is  unpretentious, 
brief,  informal.  The  reader  who  anticipates  new  and 
startling  revelation  in  these  pages  is  doomed  to  disap- 
pointment, but  the  hope  is  expressed  that  old  material 
may  appear  in  new  relations.  It  is  the  author's  purpose 
to  recall  to  our  minds  some  very  common  truths — plain, 
important,  neglected — and  in  a  somewhat  uncommon 
manner  lead  us  more  fully  to  appreciate  and  apply  cer- 
tain of  the  great  fundamental  principles  that  lie  at  the 
base  of  our  social  structure.  That  the  desired  point  of 
view  may  be  brought  out,  and  in  order  to  present  the 
subject  in  a  distinctly  human  rather  than  in  a  purely 
professional  manner,  it  has  been  found  convenient  to  be 
simple  in  form  of  statement  and  to  use  many  illustrations 
drawn  from  personal  observation  or  experience. 

Any  far-reaching  study  of  the  purpose  and  application 
of  ideals  as  the  basis  of  democracy  would  seem  to  begin 
in  the  school.  Such  study  and  appreciation  must  have 
their  foundation  in  education.  Thorough  recognition  has 
been  accorded  this  fact.  The  results  of  a  modest  attempt 
to  interpret  the  biological  and  social  forces  underlying 
education,  to  evaluate  their  contentions,  and  to  enlarge 
and  make  them  practical  for  the  use  of  the  teacher  will 
receive  treatment  in  a  subsequent  volume. 

Of  excellent  books  for  teachers  there  is  no  lack.  The 
present  volume  is  intended  primarily  for  Reading  Circles, 
for  the  general  reader,  and  for  those  who  find  the  average 


m  The  Introduction 

book  too  technical  in  terminology,  too  extended  in  treat- 
ment, or  too  diffuse. 

This  essay  in  one  or  another  of  its  parts  has  been  given 
before  the  National  Education  Association,  National 
Department  of  Superintendence,  the  American  Religious 
Education  Association,  the  American  Library  Association, 
the  California  Teachers  Associations,  University  of  Colo- 
rado Summer  Session,  a  literary  organization,  and  a 
civic  body,  and  the  first  section  has  appeared  as  a 
magazine  article.  The  entire  essay  forms  a  portion  of 
a  series  of  lectures  given  at  the  University  of  California 
during  July  and  August,  1911. 

A.  H.  C. 


THE  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  IMPRESSION  AND  PERSONALITY     ...          .     .     .      i 

First  impressions  disappointing.  Familiarity  tends  to 
increase  interest.  Impressions  deepen  as  knowledge 
grows.  Mental  pictures  gained  in  childhood  exceed 
reality.  The  function  of  apperception  in  the  forma- 
tion of  impressions.  Completed  impressions  vs.  added 
concepts.  The  real  vs.  the  symbol.  The  mental  image 
gradually  develops.  ^  Mental  pictures  of  the  unseen 
are  formed.  Experience,  study,  and  travel  produce 
clear  concepts.  Environment  a  determining  factor  in 
impression.  First  impressions  most  lasting.  The 
meaning  of  personality.  The  importance  of  forming 
right  habits.  Conclusions. 

II.  MEN  IN  THE  MAKING 18 

The  need  for  higher  ethical  standards.  The  church  of 
the  past  an  inclusive  institution.  Many-sided  char- 
acter of  the  sdiool.  Congested  city  life  weakens  home 
influences;  the  tenement  evil.  Some  evils  confront- 
ing the  rising  generation.  Moral  and  religious 
training  vs.  sectarianism.  Chief  business  of  the  school 
to  form  character.  Duties  of  the  home  not  made  less 
through  increasing  the  responsibilities  of  the  school. 
The  curse  of  corruption.  The  newspaper  as  a  menace 
to  virtue.  Commercial  cleanliness  necessary  to  last- 
ing success.  Individual  responsibility,  word  and  act, 
mean  more  than  lessons  learned  from  a  book.  The 
need  of  backbone  to  resist  temptation,  corruption, 
and  ridicule.  Increasing  demand  for  the  man  of 
character.  Favorable  signs  of  the  times. 

III.  THE  NEW  CENTURY'S  AWAKENING 32 

Hudson's  lesson  to  humanity.  The  mission  of  modern 
battleships.  Change  and  development  in  three  cen- 
turies. The  cost  of  progress.  Universal  peace  a 
fundamental  issue.  The  integrity  of  society  demands 
honest  men  and  honest  nations.  Provincialism  in 
friendships  means  selfishness.  Necessity  for  inter- 
national friendships.  War  the  enemy  of  morals.  The 
curse  of  the  Commune  and  the  French  Revolution. 
The  military  splendor  fetish.  Proper  moral  instruction 
would  stamp  out  war.  Arguments  favoring  military 
drill  in  schools.  The  fallacy  of  things  military  in 
education.  The  tendency  of  history  to  glorify  war. 
The  real  province  of  history  study.  Preparedness  for 

vii 


mii  The  Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

war  will  not  insure  peace.  Primitive  man  a  natural 
warrior.  Present  social  and  civic  life  built  upon 
spirit  of  trust  and  arbitration.  Universal  peace  will 
result  in  increased  morality. 

IV.  THE  CLASSICS  OF  INDUSTRIALISM    .......     49 

The  welding  of  industry  and  art.     The  utilitarian  and 
the   artistic.    Art   appreciation   and   progress.     The 
truly  useful  is  the  essentially  artistic.     The  builders 
and  craftsmen  of  early  days  were  artistic.     The  art- 
artisan  vs.  the  machine-artisan.     Art  for  art's  sake 
vs.  union  of  art  and  industry.     Utilitarian  value  of  the 
artistic.    The  work  of  Ruskin  and  Morris.     The  moral 
effect  of  use  and  beauty  combined.     Danger  result- 
ing from  machine  methods;  the  American  way.     The 
equality  of  master  and  man. 
V.  THE  LIBRARY  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  FACTOR  .     .     .     .61 

The  value  of  books.  The  library  classed  with  the 
church  and  the  school.  Elements  that  constitute  a  real 
library.  Some  interesting  statistics  as  to  library 
instruction.  The  art  of  book  using.  Students  should 
be  familiar  with  the  library.  Supplementary  books 
and  reference  works.  The  librarian  as  demonstrator. 
Teachers  and  librarian  cooperate.  A  love  for  good 
literature  may  be  developed.  The  library  should  be 
drawn  upon  by  all  school  departments.  The  location 
of  the  school  library  and  its  use  as  a  study  hall. 
Library  bulletins,  published  outlines,  and  study  topics. 
The  selective  process  applied  to  books.  The  children's 
room.  Individual  interests  must  be  considered.  A 
wide  field  of  reading  desirable,  but  a  few  good  books 
should  be  thoroughly  digested. 

VI.  OUR  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTMENT 81 

Growing  interest  of  laymen  in  schools.  Parents 
interested  in  an  external  rather  than  in  an  internal 
sense.  The  complexity  of  the  educational  machine. 
In  the  business  world  investments  must  bring  returns. 
The  merchant  and  his  problem.  The  farmer  and  his 
problem.  The  stock  raiser's  point  of  view.  The 
florist  and  horticulturist  and  their  contributions; 
Luther  Burbank.  The  mechanical  world  and  returns 
upon  investment.  Business  men  give  little  attention 
to  their  educational  investment.  The  attitude  of  the 
layman  one  cause  for  the  unsettled  condition  of  the 
schools.  Relation  between  education  and  the  business 
world  not  appreciated  by  the  layman.  Duty  of  the 
parent  to  correct  as  well  as  to  criticise.  The  teacher 
not  altogether  a  theorist.  Taxpayer  not  informed  on 
educational  problems.  Negligence  of  the  public  re- 
sults in  establishing  factory  schools.  The  corporation: 


The  Contents  i% 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Its  lesson  to  teacher  and  layman.  Interest  of  patron 
gives  courage  to  teacher  and  taught.  Responsibility 
of  the  teacher;  cooperation  must  be  secured.  Rights 
of  parents  must  be  recognized.  Cooperation  and  sal- 
ary increase.  Duties  of  the  teacher  reviewed.  Pay 
for  the  day's  work. 

VII.  A  MORE  EFFICIENT  SCHOOL 95 

Memory  processes  still  emphasized  in  school.  Three 
types  of  individuals  —  the  conservative,  the  radical, 
and  the  well  balanced.  Real  education  vs.  school 
education.  The  development  of  modern  schools. 
The  test  of  an  efficient  school.  Schools  for  defec- 
tives warrant  careful  study.  ^  No  educational  standard 
exists.  Thoroughness  lacking  in  higher  education. 
The  beaten  path  still  followed.  Causes  leading  to 
changed  conditions  in  society.  The  lesson  of  adapt- 
ability. Mis-application  of  modern  ideas.  Speciali- 
zation and  election  in  school.  Portions  of  subjects 
rather  than  entire  subjects  to  be  eliminated.  Con- 
structive criticism  more  helpful  than  destructive 
criticism.  A  deliberate  but  marked  educational 
progress.  The  needs  of  to-day.  The  present-day 
school  never  equaled. 

VIII.   VOCATIONAL  ADJUSTMENT 119 

The  apprenticeship  system  and  non-adjustment.  The 
manual-training  high  school  and  the  trade  school. 
Vocational  training  implies  a  guiding  motive.  Reasons 
for  boys  and  girls  leaving  school.  The  problem  of  the 
"misfit."  Necessity  for  adjustment  to  life  condi- 
tions. Returns  must  come  in  terms  of  satisfaction 
as  well  as  in  dollars.  Undue  emphasis  must  not  be 
given  the  industrial  phases.  Head  workers  as  well 
as  hand  workers  are  misplaced.  Four  fundamental 
factors  governing  vocational  interpretation  and 
adjustment.  The  dominant  interests  of  the  child. 
Adjustment  must  begin  early.  The  value  of  excur- 
sions. The  boy  studied  in  his  play  period.  Economic 
conditions  of  the  family.  Occupational  opportunities 
in  given  regions.  Collecting  and  tabulating  data. 
The  work  of  advisers.  The  demands  of  the  future. 
The  course  of  study  as  consequence  and  result  in  the 
adjustment.  The  regular  teacher  must  carry  on  the 
work.  Normal  and  training  schools  and  universities 
must  offer  courses.  Conclusions 

IX.  ATTAINABLE  IDEALS 135 

Primitive  man  and  the  simple  life.  Necessities  of  envi- 
ronment produce  growth.  Community  life  and  evolu- 
tion. Past  ages  not  prepared  for  democracy.  Ideals: 
a  definition,  (a)  Appreciation  of  others:  Our  debt 


The  Contents 


CHAPTER 

to  the  past.  Tolerance  toward  others.  The  measure 
of  men.  Advance  in  civilization  increases  interde- 
pendence. Men  not  self-made.  (6)  Equality  of 
men:  Men  not  rated  by  rank  or  position.  A  false 
aristocracy  of  birth  or  money.  Enduring  qualities 
furnish  the  yardstick  of  measure.  The  law  of  aver- 
ages, (c)  Richness  of  labor:  The  ideal  of  labor. 
Idleness  and  crime.  Roosevelt  on  self-dependence. 
Money  vs.  muscle.  Labor  as  a  moral  influence.  No 
true  happiness  without  labor.  Drudgery  and  over- 
work vs.  labor.  The  nobility  of  work,  (d)  Paradise 
of  play:  Play  as  essential  as  work.  The  professional 
players  are  social  parasites.  The  summer  vacation 
mania.  Unequal  division  of  work  and  play.  We  live 
at  an  overhigh  tension.  Proper  adjustment  of  play 
and  work  essential  to  successful  living,  (e)  The 
saving  sense  of  humor:  Humor  and  the  day's  work. 
Humor  mirrors  comradeship.  Humor  foundations 
hope  and  cheer  and  the  spiritual  gifts.  Optimism 
a  duty.  (/)  The  value  of  vision:  Imagination 
and  insight  conditioned  upon  vision.  Personalities 
inspired  through  vision.  Vision  necessary  in  the 
material  world.  The  vision  an  idealized  real,  (g) 
Integrity  and  character:  The  ideal  of  honor.  Selfish- 
ness in  relation  to  dishonesty.  Desire  for  wealth 
vs.  wrongdoing.  The  call  of  the  dollar  difficult  to 
overcome.  A  healthy  nation  means  honest  men. 
Business  success  calls  for  upright  dealing.  The  effect 
of  one  man  as  a  leavening  power.  Be  natural.  Party 
affiliation  vs.  independent  thought  and  action.  A 
growing  public  sentiment  mirrors  a  wholesome  condi- 
tion, (h)  Service  and  responsibility:  Good  citi- 
zenship means  service.  The  life  of  Lincoln  one  of 
service.  To  learn  to  serve  is  an  important  lesson. 
Mr.  Stetson's  Christmas  Greeting  Responsibility 
leads  to  service;  responsibility  means  growth.  The 
lesson  in  unity. 


IDEALS  AND   DEMOCRACY 

CHAPTER  I 

IMPRESSION  AND  PERSONALITY 

MY  first  glimpse  of  the  Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado 
River  was  immediately  before  sunrise  on  a  June 
morning.  Long  ago  I  read  of  the  wonderful  voyage  of 
Major  Powell  and  his  Indian  guides  down  the  Colorado 
River,  and  of  his  many  marvelous  escapes:  ^ature's 
how  he  plowed  his  way  through  a  cut  in  the  master- 
earth  a  mile  and  a  quarter  deep,  the  sides  at  '  ^eces 
times  stretching  so  far  apart  that  two  townships,  side 
by  side,  could  be  dropped  in,  and  again  drawing  so  close 
together  at  the  top  that  one  could  throw  an  apple  across; 
how  the  canon  was  at  the  bottom  in  places  as  dark  as 
a  path  cut  through  a  dense  forest;  how  the  rocks  here 
and  there  poked  their  heads  through  the  river  surface, 
inviting  disaster  to  the  boat,  which  many  times  was  spun 
about  as  a  chip  in  the  turbulent  eddies — these  facts  are 
familiar  to  all  who  have  read  the  narratives.  I  had 
followed  the  results  of  scientific  explorations  in  this  region, 
and  had  seen  thrown  upon  the  canvas  such  pictures  of 
this  natural  wonder  as  to  cause  me  to  doubt  the  truth 
of  my  own  eyes.  The  brush  of  the  artist  had  shown 
for  me  such  brilliancy  of  color,  such  play  of  light  and 
shadow,  such  blending  of  tone  and  tint,  as  would  seem 
possible  only  to  the  imagination.  Surely  Nature  was 
overdrawn,  these  pictures  living  merely  upon  the  canvas 
of  a  dreamer. 


Jj.'  and  Democracy 

But  to  return  to  my  first  glimpse  on  that  June  morning. 
I  had  walked  to  the  rim  of  the  great  gash  and  stood  look- 
ing across  twelve  miles  of  vacancy  that  found  a  bottom 
six  thousand  feet  below,  where  the  turbulent  Colorado 
could  but  indistinctly  be  seen — a  thread  of  silver  in  a 
setting  of  bronze,  the  sides  of  the  canon  standing  out  as 
slices  of  pure  color.  Awed  and  overpowered,  I  stood 
trying  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  it  all,  and  was  unaware 
of  the  presence  of  other  human  beings  until  the  silence 
was  broken  by  a  woman's  voice.  The  individual  in  ques- 
tion addressed  herself  to  no  one  in  particular  as  she 
gazed  vacantly  down  into  the  canon,  and  there  was  a 
distinct  shade  of  disgust  in  her  tone  as  she  said:  "Well, 
did  I  come  away  out  here  to  see  this  dinky  thing?" 

Wonder  and  surprise  at  this  remark  found  small  place 
in  my  thought  at  that  moment.  In  the  following  days, 
however,  as  I  journeyed  my  mind  found  difficulty  in 
comprehending  the  attitude  prompting  it,  second  only 
to  that  of  realizing  the  significance  of  those  matchless 
sights  we  had  been  viewing. 

In  going  from  Mobile  to  Atlanta  at  one  time,  a  fellow 
traveler  informed  me  that  he  was  bored  with  the  sights 
he  saw  and  by  the  experiences  he  encountered.  He 
explained  that  he  had  seen  "everything"  in  Europe 
and  the  Old  World,  had  visited  every  locality  in  the 
United  States  noted  for  grandeur  and  beauty,  being 
only  then  returning  from  the  Yellowstone  Park,  and 
assured  me  that  nothing  fully  met  his  expectations. 
The  descriptions  he  had  read  and  the  word  pictures  that 
had  been  painted  for  him  were  exaggerated  and  done  in 
brighter  colors  than  were  to  be  found  in  the  originals. 
In  fact,  he  was  being  disappointed  continually,  and  stood 
ready  to  admit  the  littleness  and  insignificance  of  every- 
thing that  men  call  overpowering,  and  grand,  and  sublime. 


Impression   and  Personality  3 

And  now  the  other  side.  While  upon  one  occasion  in 
that  out-of-doors  paradise,  the  Yosemite  Valley,  I  was 
privileged  to  converse  with  Galen  Clark,  the  first  white 
man  to  see  the  big  trees  of  that  section.  Mr.  Clark,  a 
man  at  that  time  ninety-three  years  of  age,  was  as  enthu- 
siastic as  a  boy.  He  dwelt  upon  the  marvelous  works 
of  nature;  he  grew  eloquent  over  the  glory  of  spire,  and 
dome,  and  crag,  and  snow-capped  crest.  To  him  there 
was  each  day  a  new  poetry  in  the  music  and  beauty  of 
the  waterfall,  a  touch  of  the  "Divine  fire"  in  each  suc- 
ceeding sunrise,  and  a  benediction  in  each  sunset.  The 
trees  that  had  stood  for  centuries  and  that  were  old  in 
years  when  nations  now  in  decay  were  pressing  onward 
in  their  strength  and  vigor,  taught  him  constantly  new 
lessons  of  self-reliance,  of  firmness,  of  honor,  of  truth. 
They  renewed  his  faith  in  his  fellows  and  increased  his 
reverence  for  the  Infinite.  These  were  the  expressions 
of  one  whose  life  had  been  spent  among  these  scenes  and 
in  such  surroundings. 

And  only  twenty-four  hours  later  there  sat  opposite  me 
in  a  dining  car  a  man  who  "knew  Yosemite  as  he  |knew 
Broadway."  He  was  weary  of  the  sights  of  the  won- 
derful valley.  For  him  its  interest  was  gone.  He  had 
visited  it  often  and  he  hoped  never  to  see  it  again.  Such 
were  the  verdicts  of  the  two  men.  The  impressions 
made  in  either  case  were  markedly  different. 

In  an  analysis  of  impression  this  problem  at  once 
presents  itself.  At  the  first  sight  of  one  of  Nature's 
masterpieces — a  cataract  or  a  mountain  peak 
-the  first  hearing  of  a  renowned  opera,  the 
first  reading  of  an  inspiring  poem,  the  first 
sense  of  beauty  or  sublimity  one  experiences  upon 
entering  the  Pantheon  or  in  standing  before  the  Sistine 
Madonna,  or  the  first  thrill  that  comes  when  from  an 


4  Ideals   and  Democracy 

historic  battle  field  one  pictures  a  nation  going  down 
to  defeat  or  a  happy  people  crowned  with  victory,  is  the 
impression  gained  the  clearest,  most  vivid,  let  us  say  the 
fullest  impression  it  is  possible  for  such  object,  or  com- 
position, or  environment  to  convey?  Or  rather,  does  the 
impression  or  picture  grow  from  day  to  day;  does  it 
develop  or  brighten,  as  does  the  negative  in  the  pho- 
tographer's hands,  gaining  in  intensiveness  and  exten- 
siveness  as  one's  conceptions  broaden  and  expand? 

The  first  view — that  first  impressions  are  most  striking 
— would  to  the  casual  observer  seem  to  be  the  logical 
one.  It  would  be  the  common  or  empirical  view.  Con- 
sideration, however,  will  tend  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
gradual-development  view  is  psychologic  or  scientific  in 
character. 

Many  of  you  have  had,  if  you  will  but  recall,  experiences 
chat  will  give  meaning  and  color  to  the  thought  sug- 
gested. In  childhood,  what  has  been  called 

If  childhood  the  emPirical  view  does  without  doubt  hold 
sway.  The  stream  that  wound  its  way 
through  meadow  and  wood  seemed  to  our  untraveled 
years  as  a  veritable  river  in  size.  But  returning  after 
a  long  period  of  absence  to  the  home  where  the  days  of 
our  early  childhood  were  passed,  the  same  creek  that  we 
had  pictured  as  a  clear,  fair  sized,  running  stream  is 
now  found  to  be  narrow  and  shrunken  and  muddy,  its 
picturesque  banks  vanished  as  a  flight  of  the  imagination, 
and  we  can  all  but  step  across  it.  The  bridge,  too,  over 
which  we  daily  passed  to  and  fro,  is  now  diminished  from 
a  grand  structure  to  a  tiny  walk.  In  the  same  way  the 
hills  have  dwindled,  as  to  us  in  our  youth  they  were 
mountains.  The  first  schoolhouse  or  the  old  home,  once 
large  and  commodious,  now  takes  on  a  wonderfully 
diminutive  aspect.  Within  the  house  the  ceilings  are 


Impression  and  Personality  5 

low,  the  staircases  narrow,  the  rooms  small.  We  mar- 
vel that  the  old  oak  at  the  corner  of  the  homestead 
could  ever  have  seemed  to  us  a  giant  in  size.  The  city 
of  our  youth  was  in  reality  a  village,  and  our  forest 
a  mere  grove.  Altogether,  our  impressions  of  the  old 
home  and  its  surroundings  are  entirely  modified  over 
the  ones  previously  held,  and  we  can  think  ourselves 
back  to  our  former  mind  pictures  only  with  feelings  of 
sadness  and  regret. 

The  child  mind  peoples  the  world  with  giants,  and 
everything  beyond  the  sight  is  bright  and  wonderful, 
while  Santa  Claus  is  real  and  Independence  Day  longed 
for.  These  experiences  are  common  to  us  all.  The 
impressions  of  childhood  are  disappointing,  or  rather 
they  appear  dwarfed  when  maturity  is  reached  and 
after  the  acquisition  of  a  wider  range  of  knowledge, 
when  comes  the  ability  to  think  one's  self  into  the  future 
and  to  take  the  long  look  in  perspective. 

You  may  at  once  insist  that  the  chief  element  in  this 
entire  problem  of  the  impression  is  what  is  known  as  the 
doctrine  of  apperception.  The  glory  and  The  doctrine 
beauty  of  the  Yosemite,  you  say,  and  the  of  apper- 
majesty  of  the  tree,  still  young  in  its  towering  ception 

grandeur,  are  part  and  parcel  of  the  life  of  Galen  Clark. 
They  are  the  warp  and  woof  of  his  mental  machinery,  are 
bound  up  in  his  conceptions,  and  go  to  form  the  mind 
fabric  of  the  man.  His  close  contact  with  this  wonder- 
land; his  intimate  knowledge  of  Nature  and  her  moods 
through  a  long  series  of  years,  have  gained  for  him  a 
point  of  view  that  the  new  observer  cannot  possess.  The 
life  of  the  Valley  is  his  life,  and  because  for  him  is  the 
bird's  song,  for  him  the  wind  and  the  rain;  because  for 
him  the  river  runs  to  the  sea  and  the  mountain  peak 
towers  to  the  clouds,  he  knows  these  things.  They  are 


6  Ideals  and  Democracy 

part  of  himself.  This  intensive  knowledge  possessed  by 
Galen  Clark  of  every  phase  of  natural  phenomena  as 
met  with  in  his  environment  makes  of  his  mind  a  mag- 
net, to  which  is  attracted  the  new.  He  is  thus  able  to 
appreciate,  absorb,  work  over,  and  appropriate  the  new 
in  the  light  of  former  experiences.  In  this  manner,  you 
say,  the  impression  grows  directly  with  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge  and  the  gaining  of  new  experiences. 

The  lines  written  by  Charles  Wesley  Kyle  entitled 
Silence,  and  dedicated  to  the  Yosemite,  will  illustrate: 

"Emotions  new  and  strange  here  rise 
And  sweep  with  cyclonic  force  the  breast. 
A  new,  strange  world,  all  powerful  and  sublime, 
Enchains,  enslaves  and  fetters  all. 
The  greatest  most  of  all  are  fettered  most, — 
Only  the  pigmies  chatter,  and  fools  alone 
Find  laughter  here  where  nature  speaks 
In  tones  of  grandeur  and  sublimity! 
Strong  lips  are  dumb  and  eyes  unused  to  tears 
Are  forced  to  yield  the  highest  tribute  of  the  soul 
To  these  grand  thoughts  of  the  Eternal  Mind." 

What  meaning  these  lines  take  on  for  one  who  is  famil- 
iar with  the  Valley!  What  must  they  have  conveyed 
to  Galen  Clark!  As  a  description  or  pen  picture  they 
bring  up  a  throng  of  memory  transparencies.  The 
"grand  thoughts  of. the  Eternal  Mind"  take  shape  in 
physical  outline.  "Only  the  pigmies  chatter" — the 
unobserving,  the  careless,  the  weak.  But  the  strong, 
pure  soul,  and  most  of  all  the  one  shot  through  and 
through  with  the  feeling,  the  poetry,  the  grandeur,  the 
divinity  of  it  all,  can  carry  an  impression  approaching 
accuracy  and  completeness.  To  the  one  wholly  unac- 
quainted with  such  scenes,  how  far  from  complete  is  the 
impression  gained.  To  such,  how  little  significance  in 
the  emotions  here  described.  Such  a  mental  attitude 


Impression   and  Personality  7 

must  be  discovered  to  him  under  a  similar  situation 
before  his  mind  can  grasp  their  meaning.  Let  him  but 
once  live  in  the  atmosphere  of  these  nature  conceptions, 
however,  and  he  will  read  a  fuller  thought  into  these  lines 
and  translate  them  into  values  of  richness  and  power. 

This  same  point  of  view  is  emphasized  by  the  illus- 
tration of  the  woman  at  the  Grand  Canon.  With  scant 
experience  at  hand  with  which  to  compare  this  over- 
powering sight,  and  with  no  category  in  which  to  place 
it,  its  magnitude  was  lost  upon  her.  Her  apperceptive 
qualities  of  mind,  so  far  as  the  Grand  Canon  was  con- 
cerned, were  nil.  As  an  iron,  heated  to  a  high  tempera- 
ture, may  seem  to  the  touch  to  have  lost  its  heat,  or  as 
the  mind  crowded  with  fear  may  forget  itself  and  turn  to 
things  opposed,  so  here  greatness  was  translated  into  terms 
of  the  commonplace.  The  first  view  was  disappointing. 

In  any  field  of  human  experience  the  best  results  come 
when  we  present  to  the  learner  the  real  thing  to  be  stud- 
ied, the  object  itself.  When  this  is  not  possible,  vivid 
descriptions,  verbally  or  in  the  text,  and  models,  photo- 
graphs, drawings,  parts,  convey  the  most  adequate  and 
complete  ideas.  According  to  our  theory  of  apperception, 
one  having  seen  and  studied  symbols  and  reproductions 
of  an  original  should  have  a  more  adequate  impression  of 
such  original  than  would  be  possible  to  one  entirely 
unacquainted  with  its  existence,  and  by  the  same  token 
the  former  would  have  a  fuller  appreciation  than  would 
the  latter. 

In  the  art  gallery  at  Dresden,  Germany,  are  many 
famous  pictures,  but  there  is  one  that  appeals  to  all 
who  see  it,  and  many  there  are  who  visit  the  gallery 
with  the  one  object  in  mind  of  looking  upon  Raphael's 
masterpiece.  Well  I  recall  my  intention  on  first  entering 
the  gallery  to  view  this  picture,  and  as  I  walked  from 


8  Ideals  and  Democracy 

room  to  room  there  were  preceding  me  a  throng  of 
men  and  women,  silent,  expectant,  purposeful,  each 
evidently  intent  upon  a  desired  goal.  As  they  passed  on 
they  reached  a  small  room  guarded  by  attendants.  Fol- 
lowing, I  found  myself  with  twoscore  others— all  the 
room  could  contain— each  with  eyes  focused  and  atten- 
tion bent  upon  the  Sistine  Madonna. 

It  was,  in  a  measure,  as  we  had  expected  to  see  it.  The 
reproductions  had  prepared  us  in  part  for  this  first  sight. 
The  color,  the  attitude,  the  expression,  all  were  famil- 
iar to  us,  but  somehow  as  we  looked  the  picture  took 
on  new  meaning.  In  the  beginning  our  mental  pictures 
seemed  to  be  properly  framed.  We  were  delighted  and 
charmed,  not  overpowered  or  amazed.  Reasoning  from 
the  effect  to  the  cause,  we  knew  that  everything  was  as 
it  should  be.  The  original  tallied  with  our  secondhand 
prints.  When,  however,  the  guards  cleared  the  room 
to  make  place  for  others,  we  found  ourselves  loath  to 
depart,  and  returned  again  and  again  to  take  our  places 
before  the  inspiring  canvas.  Gradually  its  greatness 
began  to  grow  upon  us,  and  the  negatives  of  our  minds 
became  composites  with  the  many  exposures,  while 
again  we  grasped  the  whole  picture  less  and  less  clearly. 
Repeated  visits,  however,  or  given  time  to  recall  and 
reflect,  and  the  Sistine  Madonna  produces  an  impres- 
sion so  intensive,  and  deep,  and  significant  as  to  bear 
slight  likeness  to  that  which  comes  at  first  sight.  It 
builds  itself  into  the  mind  as  the  stones  are  built  into 
the  temple.  The  mind  is,  little  by  little,  able  to  give 
adequate  expression  to  the  object  as  the  impression  grows. 
The  mind  absorbs  as  an  animal  of  the  lower  order  sur- 
rounds and  absorbs  its  food. 

But  whether  you  will  or  not,  the  mind  reaches  out  and 
builds  up  concepts  of  the  things  you  have  not  seen  and 


Impression   and  Personality  Q 

the  experiences  that  have  not  been  yours.  If  for  the 
first  time  you  are  to  journey  to  the  mountains  or  the 
seashore,  to  the  city  or  to  the  country;  if  The  mind 
for  the  first  time  you  are  to  visit  an  historic  pictures 
spot  or  meet  an  individual  of  wide  reputation,  the  unseen 
or  a  family  member  not  known  to  you  personally;  if  you 
are  to  leave  the  familiar  school  and  enter  an  institution 
of  learning  new  to  you;  if  before  you  lies  your  initial 
experience  in  visiting  a  circus,  or  listening  to  grand  opera, 
or  witnessing  a  balloon  ascension,  you  will  in  any  case 
find  if  you  analyze  your  consciousness  that  you  have, 
either  at  the  moment  or  at  another  time,  formed  im- 
pressions of  these  forces  and  faces,  these  scenes  and 
circumstances — impressions  that  may  not  be  adequate 
or  exact.  The  more  knowledge  you  have  at  your  com- 
mand, and  the  more  similar  data  you  have  with  which 
to  compare  in  any  particular  instance,  the  more  nearly 
correct  will  be  the  impressions.  Some  you  will  find  to 
be  wholly  and  entirely  incorrect.  Some  appear  to  be 
exact,  but  are  finally  modified  and  worked  over  as  new 
points  rise  into  consciousness.  Some  are  simply  frame- 
works, mere  skeletons,  and  upon  these  the  lasting  or 
complete  impression  is  built  up. 

Are  now  those  impressions  formed  in  the  absence  of 
the  causal  factors  ever  correct?  Is  it  possible  for  one  to 
gain  an  adequate  impression  of  an  object,  never  having 
seen  it?  It  is  said  of  Walter  Scott  that  when  he  wrote 
Kenilworth  he  had  never  seen  the  castle  of  that  name, 
although  his  descriptions  of  the  historic  structure  are 
exact  and  true  to  fact,  even  to  the  most  minute  detail. 
But  mark  you,  Scott  must  have  been  quite  familiar 
with  the  general  style  of  architecture  of  which  Kenil- 
worth was  a  type.  He  had  seen  many  castles.  He 
had  listened  to  verbal  and  read  written  descriptions  of 


io  Ideals   and   Democracy 

Kenilworth,  and  there  was  in  his  mind  a  mass  of  material 
which,  when  grouped  in  certain  relationships,  would  allow 
the  new  conception  or  image  to  enter  and  locate  so  as  to 
be  recognized  in  terms  of  the  old  knowledge.  The  new 
picture  was  thus  not  only  a  recapitulation  but  a  glance 
into  the  future  and  a  prophecy.  No  doubt  Scott,  after 
visiting  Kenilworth,  found  his  impressions  deepened  and 
amplified. 

In  the  study  of  history,  or  literature,  or  biography, 
or  commerce,  or  politics,  new  life  and  meaning  is  given 
Value  of  &  the  student  can  reason  from  cause  to 
first-hand  effect;  if  he  has  made  himself  familiar 
through  reading  and  illustrations,  and  more 
particularly  if  he  is  acquainted  at  first  hand  with  the 
scenes,  locations,  or  conditions  described.  If  one  is  on 
speaking  terms  with  the  literature  of  a  given  school 
of  writers,  or  has  studied  intensively  the  works  of  a 
single  individual,  he  sees  in  the  first  reading  of  a  pro- 
duction new  to  him  much  fuller  meaning  than  would 
be  the  case  did  he  come  with  no  understanding  or  appre- 
ciation of  the  author's  works,  or  with  no  knowledge  of 
the  author's  individuality.  There  is  a  certain  human 
element  attaching  to  every  piece  of  literature,  and  the 
more  one  knows  of  the  life  and  surroundings  and  habits 
of  the  writer  the  more  fully  and  keenly  can  one  appre- 
ciate the  author's  point  of  view.  Familiarity  with  these 
things  would  tend  to  enable  one  to  gather  from  a  page 
a  meaning  somewhat  adequate  to  that  written  into  it  by 
its  author. 

The  reader  will  find  if  he  visit  Acadia  an  increased 
understanding  of  Longfellow's  Evangeline,  and  a  journey 
to  the  poet's  old  home  will  intensify  and  enrich  impres- 
sions already  clear.  As  one  walks  across  the  field  at 
Gettysburg  one  feels  more  keenly  than  before  the  meaning 


Impression   and   Personality  n 

of  that  great  internal  strife  of  a  half  century  past,  and 
Lincoln's  Gettysburg  address  takes  on  new  significance. 
To  stand  upon  the  wall  at  Old  Chester  and  picture  in 
imagination  King  Charles  the  First  again  on  the  same 
spot,  helplessly  watching  his  army  going  down  to  cer- 
tain defeat  on  Rowton  Heath,  is  to  bring  before  the 
mind  a  new  understanding  of  the  part  played  here  by 
Cromwell  in  the  making  of  history.  To  visit  the  home 
of  the  Master  Poet  at  Stratford,  to  look  upon  the  scenes 
that  to  him  were  familiar,  to  walk  his  streets,  to  float 
upon  his  river,  to  view  his  fields  and  woods,  to  dream 
under  his  sky,  and  to  live  where  he  lived  and  worked, 
—all  this  ties  one  more  clearly  to  the  poet  and  to  the 
man  than  would  be  possible  without  this  intimate  asso- 
ciation with  Shakspere's  England.  To  perform  in  one's 
laboratory  scientific  experiments,  to  deal  with  elements 
and  compounds  and  to  see  the  results  grow  under  one's 
own  manipulation,  mean  a  more  perfect  understand- 
ing of  physical  forces,  of  chemical  laws,  of  evolutionary 
processes  than  could  come  to  one  in  a  lifetime  of  mere 
reading  or  theorizing.  The  study  of  products,  of  raw 
materials,  of  manufacturing  processes,  of  transporta- 
tion, of  marketing, — this  leads  to  an  understanding  of 
commercial  relations.  First-hand  knowledge  of  social 
conditions,  of  manners  and  customs,  of  governmental 
policies  and  politics,  of  beliefs  and  traditions,  indicate 
to  the  careful  observer  how  body  and  bent  are  given 
our  motives  and  ideals.  Such  knowledge  shows  how  out 
of  chaos  is  born  democracy. 

Another  element  in  the  equation  when  considering 
this  matter  of  the  impression  is  the  condition  under 
which  one  finds  himself,  the  environment  surrounding 
one.  People  react  differently  as  environing  conditions 
change.  Again,  temperament  and  nationality  have  much 


12  Ideals   and  Democracy 

to  do  in  determining  reactions.  It  is  a  common  criti- 
cism made  upon  Americans  by  foreigners  that  our 
citizens  are  not  patriotic.  It  is  urged  in 
e£onment  Justification  of  this  claim  that  we  do  not 
dignify  our  national  anthem,  or  show  sufficient 
reverence  for  the  flag  of  our  country,  or  give  homage  to 
the  President  of  our  republic.  True  it  is  that  many  an 
American  will  sit  placidly  in  his  seat  while  listening  to 
the  strains  of  The  Star-spangled  Banner,  or  seem  to  be 
unmoved  at  the  sight  of  Old  Glory,  while  in  most  Euro- 
pean countries  the  national  air  will  bring  to  his  feet 
every  loyal  subject,  and  the  display  of  the  national  colors 
will  find  every  man  with  his  hat  off  at  "attention." 

It  must  be  recognized,  however,  that  these  are  but 
the  outward  signs  of  patriotism.  They  do  not  necessa- 
rily indicate  deep  feeling  or  profound  impression.  They 
may  in  fact  mirror  only  habit  born  of  centuries  of  tradi- 
tion. The  product  of  years  and  years  of  progress, — our 
people  have  worked  and  suffered,  planned  and  built; 
in  war  and  in  peace  they  have  triumphed  or  have  felt 
the  sting  of  defeat;  they  have  broadened  in  their  views, 
grown  more  sympathetic  in  their  feelings  and  more 
tolerant  in  their  criticisms,  until  they  to-day  have  an 
appreciation  of  the  meaning  and  significance  of  real 
patriotism,  and  national  honesty,  and  civic  righteousness 
such  as  is  possessed  by  few  other  peoples.  "No  Govern- 
ment of  modern  times,"  said  Elaine,1  "has  encountered 
the  dangers  that  beset  the  United  States,  or  achieved  the 
triumphs  wherewith  the  Nation  is  crowned."  But  this 
fuller  conception  has  come  only  through  a  careful  study 
of  conditions  as  they  elsewhere  exist  and  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  fate  and  fortune  of  individuals,  peoples, 
and  nations. 

1  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  II,  p.  676. 


Impression   and  Personality  13 

There  is  no  doubt  tnat  the  mipression  is  intensified 
when  the  surroundings  are  such  as  to  tend  to,  rather 
than  detract  from,  the  centering  of  thought  upon  the 
focal  point.  As  an  experiment,  place  a  dozen  articles 
upon  a  table  in  the  center  of  a  room.  Select  articles 
in  common  use — knife,  newspaper,  coin,  book,  watch, 
pencil,  and  the  like.  Try  the  experiment  first  upon  a 
group  of  a  half  dozen  persons  by  using  a  room  bare 
as  to  furniture  and  hangings,  permitting  each  person  in 
turn  to  go  into  the  room  alone,  each  being  allowed  an 
equal  amount  of  time,  and  on  coming  from  the  room 
to  require  each,  working  under  a  time  limit,  to  record  a 
list  of  articles  noted  on  the  table.  As  a  second  experi- 
ment, place  another  table  with  an  equal  number  of 
common  objects  in  a  room  completely  furnished  and 
proceed  as  in  the  first  instance.  Or  try  again  when 
there  is  conversation  in  the  room,  or  music,  or  other 
diversion.  The  counter  attractions,  the  furnishings,  the 
additional  persons,  all  offer  a  bar  to  concentration,  and 
the  impressions  gained  will  probably  result  in  the  recall 
of  a  fewer  number  of  objects  than  in  the  first  instance. 

But  while  experience  and  environment  have  much 
to  do  with  the  intensity  of  the  impression,  it  is  true, 
as  previously  hinted,  that  the  first  impressions  have  a 
tendency  to  be  more  lasting.  It  is  also  true  that  impres- 
sions gained  in  early  years,  when  the  mind  is  pliable  and 
plastic,  are  more  readily  retained  than  those  coming  at 
a  later  day,  although  the  subsequent  or  built-up  impres- 
sions are  more  perfect  and  accurate  and  inclusive.  „  You 
frequently  say,  in  speaking  of  an  individual,  "My  first 
impression  of  him  was  correct;  he  is,  as  I  first  made 
up  my  mind,  lazy  or  studious,  courteous  or  ill-bred, 
cultured  or  illiterate,  reserved  or  loquacious,  dignified  or 
unconstrained.  Closer  acquaintance  only  confirms  my 


14  Ideals   and  Democracy 

first  impression."  When  carried  too  far,  however,  this 
doctrine  leads  to  "jumping  to  conclusions."  The  open- 
minded  will  always  be  ready  to  revise  the  impression  in 
the  light  of  newer  revelation. 

Now  the  crucial  point  in  this  entire  matter  of  the 
psychology  of  the  impression  is  to  be  found  in  the  char- 
acter of  individuals — what  we  may  speak 
Personality         ,  ..          -.  ,.,  JL.  . 

of  as  personality.    Personality  is  something 

that  cannot  be  defined;  it  is  the  you  as  you.  Personal- 
ity, if  taken  from  the  individual,  would  render  all  men 
of  a  like  type.  Personality  makes  progress  possible.  It 
is  that  which  has  built  school  and  church  and  state 
and  the  other  great  institutions,  and  working  through 
them  gives  back  the  best  to  the  life  of  the  people. 
Thus  is  laid  the  foundation  for  all  real  democracy.  The 
personality  that  counts  means  openmindedness,  culture, 
poise,  balance,  contentment,  generosity,  responsibility;  it 
means  service  for  others;  it  means  the  optimistic  mind, 
sound  judgment,  and  clear  vision.  The  man  or  the 
woman,  the  student  or  the  teacher  with  strong  per- 
sonality will  trust  first  impressions  only  as  they  come 
through  an  unbiased  and  unprejudiced  mind.  One 
must  always  be  ready  to  accept  new  truth  and  thus 
modify  the  impression.  He  who  would  progress  must 
understand  it  is  a  mark  of  progress  to  be  willing  to  dis- 
card old  theory  for  accepted  practice.  He  must  look  at 
things  in  a  perfect  perspective. 

That  great  naturalist,  John  Burroughs,  once  told  the 
writer  that  his  volume  descriptive  of  his  Alaskan  trip  is 
in  some  manner  the  most  unsatisfactory  bit  of  writing  he 
has  done,  and  that  the  reason  for  this  lies  in  the  fact  of 
the  short  time  spent  in  Alaska  and  the  consequent  lack 
of  opportunity  given  him  to  observe  and  ponder  and 
weigh.  Conclusions  were  drawn  on  too  few  data,  and 


Impression  and  Personality  15 

the  impressions  were  fixed  too  early.  "We  see  through 
a  glass  darkly."  With  longer  contact  the  "light  shines 
more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day." 

The  implications  of  the  foregoing  are  several  and  are 
of  vital  consequence.  In  a  summary  of  conclusions,  the 
value  of  proper  habit  forming  stands  forth  importance 
as  of  first  importance.  We  speak  of  the  of  forming 
impressionistic  age  as  that  of  childhood  and  good  habits 
youth.  Since  impressions  gained  at  this  plastic  period 
are  so  lasting,  how  important  it  is  to  see  to  it  that 
the  first  impressions  are  as  nearly  correct  as  possible. 
Habit,  although  not  everything,  is  still  a  great  deal. 
Lasting  impressions  mean  the  forming  of  habits,  good 
or  bad,  that  remain  through  life.  As  each  additional 
performance  of  an  act  tends  to  make  each  succeeding 
repetition  of  the  act  easier  than  the  last,  care  must 
be  exercised  lest  we  make  habitual  those  acts  that  will 
weaken  rather  than  give  strength,  and  that  tear  down 
rather  than  build  up.  If  the  impression  at  first  is  one 
around  which  character  may  be  built,  the  individual  has 
nothing  to  unlearn,  and  progress  is  rapid  and  sure. 

We  further  conclude  that  the  mind  cannot  at  first 
gain  adequate  impressions  or  a  complete  knowledge. 
Just  as  man  is  a  developing  organism  physically,  so 
may  we  expect  that  added  knowledge  and  experience 
will  develop  ability  to  comprehend,  compare,  and  con- 
clude. The  impression  of  to-day,  which  may  seem 
complete  and  unified,  may  be  in  the  light  of  to-morrow's 
experiences  inadequate  and  partial.  As  our  experiences 
are  built  into  us,  the  impression  approaches  more  and 
more  the  real,  the  actual. 

Another  conclusion  indicates  that  the  learner  can 
best  appreciate  those  things  that  have  in  part  been 
experienced,  or  such  as  possess  attributes  similar  to 


i6  Ideals  and  Democracy 

those  possessed  by  objects  of  past  experiences.  The 
study  of  the  poem  Snowbound  by  those  who  have  never 

seen  a  snowstorm  would  mean  comparatively 
Impressions 

influenced  by  little.  A  lecture  on  orange  culture  would 
experience  COnvey  less  meaning  to  an  Eskimo  than  to 
a  Californian.  If  lessons  are  so  planned  as  to  indicate 
a  logical  connection  one  with  another,  presenting  those 
things  that  articulate  naturally  with  what  has  gone 
before,  much  of  the  vagueness  and  indefiniteness  in  our 
present  teaching  would  disappear.  The  impressions  are 
thus  deepened  by  looking  upon  the  subject  from  many 
points  of  vantage,  just  as  the  magnitude  of  the  Califor- 
nia big  trees  is  more  fully  comprehended  after  one  has 
viewed  them  from  a  distance,  studied  them  at  close 
range,  ridden  and  walked  around  them,  and  measured 
them  with  a  tape. 

It  must  also  be  remembered  that  in  childhood  there 
are  comparatively  few  experiences,  so  that  those  coming 
to  the  immature  mind  may  ofttimes  prove  more  vivid 
than  would  be  the  case  later.  In  the  schools  of  a  half 
century  past  there  were  few  books  and  few  subjects. 
These  were  worked  over  and  over  and  well  digested. 
While  the  imaginative  power  of  the  child  should  be 
cultivated  as  an  aid  to  vivid  conceptions,  care  must  be 
exercised  lest  the  work  become  so  superficial  and  quan- 
titative as  to  lack  in  real  value. 

Finally,  our  conclusions  lead  us  to  note  that  just  as 
individualities  differ,  so  will  impressions  gained  from  the 
same  original  differ  with  each  individual.  One  will  see 
in  terms  of  color,  another  in  terms  of  form;  one  gathers 
impressions  mainly  through  one  particular  sense,  and 
one  through  another.  To  expect  like  results  from  all  is 
to  disregard  the  element  of  individuality. 

The  common  saying,    "We  get  out  of  a   thing  in 


Impression   and   Personality  if 

proportion  as  we  put  into  it,"  contains  more  than  a 
modicum  of  truth.  In  other  words,  those  who  put  most 
into  the  mill  carry  most  away.  To  produce  a 
democracy  we  must  have  men— strong  men,  ™n  of* id/all 
determined  men,  men  unselfish,  farsighted, 
alert,  sympathetic,  incorruptible.  Such  are  the  men  of 
personality.  As  the  man,  so  the  society  of  which  he  is 
a  part.  A  chain  is  as  strong  as  its  weakest  link.  Soci- 
ety does  not  necessarily  or  entirely  exist  for  its  members. 
Men  who  wear  their  obligations  all  too  lightly  are  those 
in  whom  impressions  have  not  produced  personality. 
One's  first  duty  is  toward  his  family,  but  if  a  man  seek 
wealth,  or  patronage,  or  applause  for  selfish  ends  or  to 
satisfy  ambition,  if  he  gain  friendships  only  that  these 
may  prove  useful  in  a  commercial  way,  he  is  not  the 
good  citizen.  The  ideal  personality  will  produce  the 
real  democracy. 

In  this  age  of  competition  and  push  and  progress, 
where  time  seems  such  a  vital  element,  it  is  an  economic 
and  social  necessity  to  judge  quickly  and 
sanely  and  surely.  If  "snap"  judgments  quire  rapid 
prove  to  be  false  judgments,  harm  will  J™* sane 
result.  The  swift  march  of  events  does  not 
always  admit  of  the  cautious  and  plodding  method. 
The  man  must  train  himself  to  judge  not  with  haste 
but  with  dispatch,  and  his  impressions  must  be  regis- 
tered, passed  through  the  clearing  house  of  his  mind, 
catalogued,  and  conclusions  drawn  therefrom  so  as  to 
reach  decisions  instantly.  Whether  the  impression  be 
of  a  book  or  a  man,  of  an  act  or  an  object,  the  mind 
should  be  so  attuned  and  adjusted  as  to  receive  new 
impressions  willingly,  to  work  them  over  analytically, 
and  to  hold  to  them  tenaciously  only  until  other  and 
further  knowledge  makes  change  or  modification  desirable. 


CHAPTER  II 
MEN  IN  THE  MAKING 

THERE  has  never  been  a  time  in  the  history  of  the 
world  when  there  was  manifest  a  greater  need  for 
high  ideals,  for  lofty  aspirations,  for  deep  ethical  insight 
than  to-day.     Not  that  this  country  is  sunk  in  immoral- 
ity and  disbelief  and  dishonor.     But  never, 

h^gh /deals       so  fully  as  at  Present»  has  the  sordid  sPirit 
of  commercialism  had  such  a  grip  on  men 

and  women,  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor.  The  clouds 
of  greed  and  gain  have  been  gathering,  and  what  was 
once  in  the  financial  world  considered  a  crime  is  now 
often  interpreted  in  terms  of  keen  manipulation  or 
sharp  business  practice.  Competition  has  sharpened  the 
wits  and  has  at  the  same  time  too  often  dulled  the 
moral  sensibilities.  Modern  invention,  the  application  of 
scientific  principles  to  the  arts  and  industries,  improved 
methods  of  transportation,  of  manufacture,  of  home 
keeping,  have  lessened  responsibility  among  the  rank 
and  file.  Ambition  to  possess  the  material  things  of 
this  world  and  to  be  reckoned  as  wealthy  as  our  neighbor 
has  led  to  high  living,  extravagant  dress,  costly  accesso- 
ries. Men  of  small  means  speculate,  gamble,  default, 
and  are  punished.  Men  of  large  means  are  doing  these 
things  constantly,  and  too  often  go  unpunished.  And 
because  morality  seems  to  go  unrewarded  and  deception 
and  corruption  in  high  places  is  for  the  moment  victo- 
rious, false  notions  prevail  in  the  minds  of  the  unthink- 
ing. How  shall  adjustment  be  made? 

18 


Men   in   the   Making  ip 

In  the  past  the  church  attempted  to  do  its  own  work 
and  be  home  and  school  as  well.  The  church  was  respon- 
sible for  the  inculcation  of  religious  beliefs  *„„„•„„•„ 

.  -  figenciKS  vn 

for  the  setting  of  moral  standards,  for  character 
laying  the  foundations  of  the  intellectual  building 
life,  for  developing  the  physical  side  of  the  individual, 
and  often  even  for  teaching  the  elements  of  a  trade, 
vocation,  or  profession  which  was  to  be  followed  in 
later  life.  But  however  effectively  the  church  did  its 

work  in  times  past,  the  economic  develop- 

.  ,  The  church 

ment  of  the  country  and  the  social  evolution 

of  our  people  are  now  such  as  to  render  it  entirely  unable 
to  cope  single  handed  with  the  problem  of  character 
building.  Indeed,  as  we  now  look  back  upon  the  work 
of  the  church,  we  see  how  inadequately  it  performed  the 
task  assigned  it  in  any  day  and  generation. 

Again,  we  find  the  school  endeavoring  to  be  church, 
home,  and  school  combined.  To  note  this  condition, 

it  will  not  be  necessary  to  hark  back  to       _.      ,    . 

.  ,         .  .  2  he  school 

ancient  history.     Indeed,  in  many  localities 

to-day  the  school  is  the  only  medium  of  moral  instruc- 
tion with  which  the  child  comes  in  contact.  Church 
and  Sunday  school  are  unknown  to  him;  his  life  at 
home  is  that  of  the  street  and  the  cellar,  and  the  few 
hours  spent  at  school  with  his  teacher  are  in  such  small 
proportion  to  the  total  number  of  waking  hours  during 
the  year1  as  to  render  impossible  such  teaching  as  is 
necessary. 

All  thinking  people  agree  in  a  general  way  as  to  the 
purpose  of  education,  whether  received  in  the  home,  at 
school,  or  in  the  church.  They  do  not,  however,  all  agree 
as  to  the  most  important  factors  involved  in  a  real  edu- 
cation, or  as  to  the  best  methods  of  procuring  results. 

1  About  one  seventh  in  the  upper  grammar  grades. 


2O  Ideals   and  Democracy 

Some  want  the  training  of  the  boy  and  the  girl  to  be  for 
life,  but  they  do  not  tell  us  in  what  life  consists,  or  what 
constitutes  the  best  in  life.  Some  wish  to  train  for  citi- 
zenship, and  to  many,  citizenship  means  earning  a  living 
and  voting  a  particular  ticket  on  election  day.  Others 
desire  such  training  as  will  produce  intelligent  or  cultured 
members  of  society.  These  statements  are  both  indefi- 
nite and  inadequate. 

The  home  is  and  should  be  the  center  for  character 
building,  but  the  crowded  condition  in  cities,  the  unwhole- 
some surroundings,   the   unhygienic   environ- 
The  home  ,  1      •  1  <•  .  1 

ment,  the  ignorance  and  privation  of  those  in 

the  crowded  tenement  districts — all  this  serves  to  coun- 
teract and  sometimes  overbalance  the  advances  made  in 
the  more  favored  localities.  Think  of  trying  to  inculcate 
moral  precepts  and  essential  religious  teachings  under 
conditions  such  as  exist  in  every  large  city  the  country 
over!  A  score  of  persons  living  in  a  space  large  enough 
for  two;  families  crowded  together  like  sheep  in  a  corral; 
hovels  and  tenement  houses  unfit  for  animals — dark, 
damp,  poorly  ventilated — stifling  in  summer,  cruelly  cold 
in  winter;  rooms  in  which  flowers  will  weaken  and  wither; 
children  associated  with  men  and  women  who  are  blind 
to  all  that  ennobles  and  enriches  character.  Under  these 
conditions  is  it  any  wonder  scant  progress  is  made  in 
the  teaching  of  the  moral  virtues  and  in  an  under- 
standing of  what  constitutes  the  religious  life? 

How  the  owner  of  one  such  set  of  tenements  or  dwell- 
ings with  which  every  large  city  is  cursed  can  easily  offset 
the  work  of  school  or  church  is  readily  understood.  The 
home,  under  these  conditions,  can  offer  practically  no 
assistance  in  building  up  the  moral  life  of  the  individual. 
Environment  is  such  a  factor  for  good  or  ill  as  to  demand 
our  most  earnest  consideration. 


Men   in   the   Making  21 

The  school  stands  for  culture,  for  knowledge,  for  in- 
formation, for  technique,  accuracy,  and  method.  It  trains 
the  intellect,  it  energizes  the  mental  ma- 
chinery, but  does  it  give  the  proper  moral  a  se 
momentum  to  the  life  of  the  boy  and  the  girl?  Go  upon 
the  streets  of  any  city  to-day  and  find  your  cheap  places 
of  amusement  crowded  with  boys  and  girls.  Visit  your 
corner  cigar  stores,  and  notice  boys  young  in  years  and  old 
in  sin,  their  time  worse  than  wasted.  Their  environment 
is  a  preparatory  school  remarkably  well  adapted  to  the 
teaching  of  vice  and  crime.  The  shelves  of  your  book 
stores  are  full  of  cheap  literature,  that  constitutes  the  most 
carefully  graded  series  of  textbooks  of  which  I  have  knowl- 
edge, for  the  information  of  the  young  on  everything 
which  they  have  no  need  or  right  to  know,  and  which 
sears  their  minds  and  deadens  their  fine  sensibilities. 
And  even  in  the  school  itself,  the  fraternities,  sororities, 
and  secret  societies  are  not  only  trouble  breeders  but 
crime  incubators  as  well,  and  the  sooner 
every  elementary  and  high-school  system 
in  the  country  shall  eliminate  them,  root 
and  branch,  the  better.  They  draw  unhappy  social  dis- 
tinctions, they  engender  partisan  feeling  and  encourage 
the  boy  or  girl  to  vote  or  to  act  as  the  whole  body 
votes  or  acts,  right  or  wrong.  They  place  the  so-called 
good  of  the  society  above  that  of  the  school  or  home. 
They  teach  those  financially  unable  to  do  so,  to  be 
extravagant  in  dress  and  wasteful  of  money  and  time, 
in  many  instances  entailing  serious  discomforts  upon 
those  who  are  responsible  for  their  keeping.  They  cause 
many  a  heartache  on  the  part  of  those  who,  on  account 
of  some  inability  to  measure  up  to  a  false  standard, 
are  kept  from  the  inner  circle.  And  under  the  guise 
of  good  fellowship,  vices  are  here  learned  and  practiced 


22  Ideals   and   Democracy 

that  prove  a  menace  to  the  whole  after  life  of  the  indi- 
vidual. Fraternities  and  sororities  are  undemocratic. 

Not  many  months  since  an  eminent  divine  in  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  influential  churches  in  the  country, 
R  li  ious  speaking  before  a  normal-school  graduating 
instruction  class,  strongly  opposed  religious  instruction 
in  schools.  in  the  schools.  He  deplored  the  fact  that  too 
often  teachers  make  it  their  business,  by  indirection  or 
otherwise,  to  seek  to  inculcate  their  own  religious  beliefs 
and  opinions.  He  insisted  that  the  home  and  the  church 
should  devote  themselves  to  religious  instruction,  leaving 
the  school  free  to  confine  itself  to  the  intellectual  side 
merely.  To  the  public  school  come  "the  children  of 
agnostics  and  Christians,  Mohammedans  and  Hebrews," 
each  with  the  understanding  that  neither  directly  nor 
indirectly  shall  the  employee  of  the  state  do  that  which 
he  has  stipulated  he  will  not  do.  "The  state,"  says  the 
reverend  gentleman,  "is  a  purely  technical  institution, 
and  should  refuse  to  accept  the  task  of  the  religious  and 
moral  training  of  the  youth,  for  which  duty  it  ought  to 
appreciate  its  own  incompetency."  He  closed  by  say- 
ing, "Upon  you,  O  American  father  and  mother,  rests 
the  duty  of  training  your  children  in  the  principles  of  the 
faith  you  profess." 

Surely  no  one  could  undertake  to  combat  successfully 
the  sanity  of  this  final  statement.  The  public  school,  if 
it  be  true  to  its  mission,  may  not  devote  itself  to  sectarian 
teaching  and  the  inculcating  of  particular  religious  tenets. 
Those  parents  who  desire  the  education  of  their  children 
to  be  colored  by  doctrinal  teachings  will  certainly  place 
their  boys  and  girls  in  parochial  or  church  schools  or 
denominational  institutions  of  learning.  They  will  not 
expect  the  public  school  to  compel  the  avowed  Hebrew 
child  to  sit  under  an  exposition  of  Methodism,  the  Catholic 


Men   in   the   Making  23 

to  accept  even  passively  the  Mohammedan  doctrine,  or 
the  agnostic  to  be  steeped  in  Universalism.  Particular 
secular  or  religious  beliefs  should  have  no  place  either 
directly  or  indirectly  in  the  course  of  instruction  in  the 
public  schools. 

But  even  though  we  agree  with  this  high  authority  on 
the  teaching  of  religion  in  the  public  schools,  should  the 
state  take  no  account  of  the  moral  training  of  the  youth? 
Is  it  the  business  only  of  the  church  and  the  home  to 
carry  forward  this  moral  training,  and  have  the  public 
schools  no  responsibility  here?  If  the  bishop  is  thinking 
of  religious  training  in  terms  of  sectarianism  or  creed,  then 
we  should  agree  with  him  that  such  teaching  has  no  place 
in  the  public  schools.  The  schools  exist  not  for  theological 
but  for  the  most  complete  educational  ends.  So  far  as 
character  building  is  concerned,  that  is  a  different  matter. 
We  shall  venture  the  assertion  that  the  principal  excuse 
the  public  school  has  for  existing  to-day  is  that  it  may  be  a 
center  of  moral  instruction. 

Our  educational  fathers  were  sound  in  their  doctrine 
that  "Religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary 

to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of  .  , 

j^nowieage 

mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education  must  be  based 

shall  forever  be  encouraged." *    I  understand    on. an  ejh?al 

...  .         foundation 

that  the  use  of  the  word     religion     here  is 

not  intended  to  be  taken  in  any  narrow  sense,  as  indicat- 
ing an  "ism."  Knowledge  is  necessary,  but  it  too  may  be 
secured  at  home,  or  at  church,  or  out  of  school,  in  what- 
ever capacity  the  individual  may  be  placed.  Knowledge 
without  a  strong  moral  directivity,  without  an  ethical 
foundation  acting  as  a  dynamic,  is  often  more  to  be 
avoided  than  desired,  and  he  who  has  the  former  without 
the  latter  may  become  the  most  dangerous  sort  of  criminal. 
1  Ordinance  of  1787,  organizing  the  Northwest  Territory. 


24  Ideals   and   Democracy 

The  school,  you  say,  for  intellection  and  the  home  and 
the  church  for  morality.  To  place  upon  the  church  and 
the  home  the  duty  of  inculcating  the  principles  of  moral 
living,  and  to  intrust  the  duty  of  such  proper  instruction 
to  ministers  and  fathers  and  mothers  is  not  enough. 
Time  was  when  moral  teaching  took  place  largely  in  the 
home.  The  home  life  was  a  community  life.  The  home 
was  the  center  of  the  family.  There  were  fewer  congested 
cities  than  now.  Social  and  industrial  conditions  were 
vastly  more  simple  than  they  are  to-day.  Children  are 
now  reared  in  apartment  houses  and  tenements,  and  in 
stifling  cellars  and  garrets.  The  manifold  duties  of  fathers 
and  mothers  separate  them  constantly  from  their  chil- 
dren, and  the  latter  simply  are  allowed  to  "grow"  as 
was  Topsy.  The  increased  desire  for  wealth  and  the 
get-rich-quick  spirit  of  the  day  render  parents  careless 
of  their  duties  in  the  realm  of  moral  instruction.  The 
very  atmosphere  of  this  century  of  faster  living  makes  the 
problem  ever  increasingly  complicated. 

We  would  agree  with  the  bishop  that  to  the  home  should 
be  left  in  large  measure  the  responsibility  of  the  necessary 
moral  instruction,  but  we  are  confronted  by  a  condition 
and  not  a  theory.  Nor  should  we  attempt  anything  in 
the  school  that  will  relieve  the  fathers  and  mothers  of 
their  responsibility  in  this  regard.  The  parent  is  not 
derelict  in  his  duty  because  of  the  interest  of  the  school 
in  this  matter.  Not  at  all.  It  is  in  part  because,  little 
by  little,  our  social  and  economic  and  industrial  devel- 
opment has  been  such  that  the  home  is  ceasing  to  be 
a  home  in  fact,  that  the  schools  are  forced  to  give  heed 
to  the  demands  of  the  day  in  this  particular. 

Deception  and  corruption  crop  out  in  business  and  in 
politics.  The  scramble  for  the  dollar,  the  race  for  political 
preference,  the  desire  for  social  standing  are  constantly 


Men   in   the   Making  25 

turning  our  moral  code  upside  down  and  creating  an  im- 
moral code  which  is  too  often  accepted  in  its  stead. 
Railroad  rates,  forest  conservation,  tariff  revision,  and  the 
hundred  and  one  perplexing  problems  before  our  people 
are  mere  trivial  issues  when  compared  with  the  problem 
of  the  corrupt  man.  With  honesty  and  integrity  in  high 
places  and  low,  these  seemingly  great  problems  will  prove 
to  be  very  simple  indeed. 

One  of  the  great  hindrances  to  proper  character  building 
is  the  average  daily  newspaper.  Flaunted  in  the  faces  of 

those  who  are  immature  and  impressionable, 

j.1      t_       1  _c        a.  i  1    '  •      J.-L        Newspapers 
the  newspaper  at  the  breakfast  table,  in  the      may  hinder 

street  car,  and  cried  about  town  is  doing 
much  to  lower  the  standard  of  morality  that 
should  be  set.  Take  the  average  newspaper  of  to-day 
and  measure  up  the  space  devoted  to  murders,  suicides, 
scandals,  divorce  cases,  robberies,  frauds,  and  all  that 
pictures  the  black  and  ignoble  side  of  life,  and  you  will  be 
astounded  at  your  findings.  Usually  occupying  the  most 
conspicuous  place  in  the  sheet,  and  with  the  largest  and 
most  prominent  display  of  type  so  that  he  who  runs  may 
read,  these  things  are  put  before  young  and  old  for  their 
daily  diet.  It  is  criticism  enough  that  adults  have  access 
to  such  unhealthy  and  unwholesome  tales.  Business  and 
professional  men  should  at  least  be  satisfied  with  the  bare 
facts.  Must  then  the  child  be  allowed  to  drink  in  the 
details  in  all  their  hurtful  revulsion?  No  paper  should, 
under  the  subterfuge  of  news,  be  permitted  to  scatter 
broadcast  stories  that  can  prove  only  a  menace  to  society 
and  help  to  breed  results  that  shall  make  possible  more 
stories  of  the  same  character. 

"Each  newspaper  is  not  one  tongue,  but  a  thousand  or 
a  million  tongues,  telling  the  same  foul  story  to  as  many 
pairs  of  listening  ears.  The  vultures  of  sensationalism 


26  Ideals   and   Democracy 

scent  the  carcass  of  immorality  afar  off.  From  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  they  collect  the  sin,  disgrace 
and  folly  of  humanity,  and  show  them  bare  to  the  world. 
They  do  not  even  require  facts,  for  morbid  memories  and 
fertile  imaginations  make  even  the  worst  of  the  world's 
happenings  seem  tame  when  compared  with  the  mon- 
strosities of  invention.  These  stories,  and  the  discussions 
they  excite,  develop  in  readers  a  cheap,  shrewd  power  of 
distortion  of  the  acts  of  all  around  them." ' 

The  public,  through  its  demand  for  the  sensational,  is 
largely  responsible  for  existing  conditions.  The  press  of 
the  country,  properly  restricted,  may  be  made  one  of  the 
greatest  elements  of  uplift. 

Until  the  home  and  all  humanity-advancing  institutions 
join  hands  in  teaching  the  moral  side  of  a  clean  commercial- 
Effident  *sm> anc^  can  snow  that  material  interests  and 
moral  honor  in  business  go  hand  in  hand,  we  cannot 

instruction  hope  £Qr  honesty  and  equity  to  prevail  in 
business  methods.  To  be  able  to  recite  the  ten  com- 
mandments or  to  memorize  pages  of  Scripture  will  never 
of  themselves  lay  a  foundation  for  religious  instruction. 
To  repeat  accurately  carefully  learned  lessons  and  to 
pass  a  high  examination  in  mathematics  does  not  argue 
the  fixing  of  moral  truths  in  the  mind.  The  lessons, 
wherever  learned,  must  look  toward  some  application  of 
the  moral  principles.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose 
that  much  talking  about  the  moral  phases  of  existence, 
the  necessity  for  upright  dealing,  for  honesty  among  men, 
for  truth  in  all  transactions,  whether  of  man  with  man 
or  nation  with  nation,  will  be  of  material  benefit  to  the 
student  in  school  or  to  the  man  outside.  Unless  the  boy 
can  be  assured  that  those  who  talk  are  also  the  ones  who 
perform;  unless  he  knows  that  those  who  preach  are  they 

1  William  George  Jordan,  The  Kinship  of  Self -Control,  p.  15. 


Men   in   the   Making  •    27 

who  likewise  practice,  the  seed  of  moral  teaching  will  fall 
on  stony  ground,  and  the  harvest  will  probably  be  of 
tares  rather  than  of  wheat. 

Morality  is  not  a  matter  of  special  lessons.  Morality 
cannot  be  taught  successfully  from  a  book,  because  it 
is  not  contained  in  a  book.  Morality  is  lofty  thinking, 
honest  doing,  righteous  living.  It  must  be  found  in  every 
lesson,  every  teacher,  every  associate  of  the  boy,  if  we  are 
to  expect  him  to  think  and  do  and  live  the  best  of  which 
he  is  capable.  Unless  builded  upon  moral  principles,  no 
business  can  properly  thrive,  no  life  be  made  enduring. 

In  a  recent  conversation  upon  this  very  topic  of  moral 
instruction  with  a  man  of  broad  culture  and  high  moral 
standing  in  the  community,  our  talk  turned  to  the  bring- 
ing from  abroad  of  dutiable  goods  into  this  country. 
When  the  statement  was  made  that  under  the  law,  goods 
to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  dollars  may  be  brought 
in  by  each  individual  duty  free,  my  friend  remarked 
that  he  saw  no  harm  in  bringing  in  without  declaration 
more  goods  than  the  law  allowed.  Such  a  man  will 
recognize  the  crime  in  cheating  his  neighbor,  but  has 
no  conception  of  the  existence  of  the  same  moral  code 
when  dealing  with  a  corporation  or  a  country.  There 
are  no  degrees  of  honesty.  Because  he  is  not  strictly 
honest  with  himself  he  would  lack  positive  force  for 
uplift  among  his  associates. 

I  take  it  to  be  a  fact  that  no  one  is  qualified  to  teach  or 
preach,  regardless  of  the  degrees  he  holds  or  the  diplomas 
or  honors  he  has  won,  unless  his  own  life  is  a  guarantee 
of  the  success  of  moral  teaching.  No  parent  who  is  not 
a»t  all  times  a  model  after  which  the  boy  may  with 
safety  pattern  his  actions  and  his  words  should  have  the 
responsibility  of  rearing  and  training  such  boy.  As  it 
has  been  aptly  put,  if  every  man  in  a  given  community 


28     *  Ideals   and   Democracy 

would,  on  going  home  from  church,  draw  a  circle  leaving 
himself  in  the  center  and  say,  "I  will  clean  and  purify 
everything  within  this  circle,"  such  community  would  be 
clean,  and  in  a  decade  the  moral  problem  would  be  solved. 

What  we  most  need  in  the  promotion  of  character 
building  is  not  additional  moral  codes  but  a  living  up  to 
those  we  now  have.  Just  as  in  this  country  it  is  not  more 
laws  that  are  needed  but  a  more  efficient  enforcement  of 
those  upon  the  statute  books,  so  we  should  have  simply 
a  more  strict  observance  of  those  things  we  know  to  be 
right  and  true  and  just  and  generous.  What  may  be 
called  backbone  is  lacking  in  most  of  us.  The  average 
citizen  is  quick  to  shoulder  his  gun  for  the  front  when  his 
commercial  interests  need  protecting,  or  when  his  honor 
or  his  country's  honor  is  in  jeopardy.  But  to-day  many 
a  man  is  inclined  to  wink  at  those  things  he  knows  to  be 
morally  wrong  lest  his  business  suffer,  his  neighbor  scoff 
at  him,  or  his  party  leaders  call  him  a  black  sheep  or 
a  backslider.  He  turns  from  the  right  lest  he  be  con- 
sidered a  dreamer  or  idealist.  The  demand  is  for  men 
who,  knowing  the  right  and  having  the  strength  of 
their  convictions,  cannot  be  moved  by  threat  or  ridicule 
or  bribe  or  argument. 

In  a  recent  address  upon  this  subject  of  character 
building,  a  speaker  declared  that  the  boy  must  be  taught 

Character  to  see  the  necessitv  for  morality  in  all  acts 
building  and  under  all  conditions  of  life,  even  if  in 
nothing  more  than  in  seeking  to  become  a 
man  like  his  father,  or  in  driving  the  cart 
of  the  grocer  next  door.  We  must  remember  that  if  the 
father  is  the  right  kind  of  man,  there  is  nothing  more 
glorious  or  dignified  toward  which  the  boy  may  shape 
his  course  than  to  follow  the  example  set  by  the  father. 
There  is  as  much  honor  in  driving  a  grocer's  cart  as  in 


Men   in   the  Making  29 

preaching  a  sermon.  It  is  not  the  service  that  dignifies 
morality.  Morality  makes  any  service  dignified. 

However  important  may  be  the  training  of  the  physi- 
cal, the  intellectual,  or  the  social  natures,  let  us  say  again 
that  in  the  last  analysis  the  real,  practical  training  is 
to  be  found  in  developing  the  moral  nature.  Character 
building  is  of  the  first  importance.  A  bookkeeper  may 
be  a  correct  accountant  and  a  perfect  penman,  but  if 
he  cannot  be  relied  upon  to  keep  an  honest  set  of  books, 
do  you  want  him  in  your  office?  Your  banker  may  be 
the  most  far-seeing  financier,  the  best  judge  of  property 
values,  and  a  careful  investor,  but  if  he  uses  your  money 
for  his  private  investments,  do  you  wish  him  for  your 
banker?  Your  clerk  may  be  courteous,  attentive,  taste- 
ful in  dress,  have  a  wide  circle  of  friends  upon  whom  he 
draws  to  be  your  customers,  but  if  he  transfers  to  his 
pocket  the  money  that  should  go  into  the  till,  think  you 
he  will  long  remain  in  your  employ?  Do  you  want  as  a 
consulting  engineer  the  college  graduate  who  winks  at 
the  salted  mine,  who  overlooks  weak  members  in  the 
structure  you  have  engaged  him  to  examine,  or  whose 
figures  are  based  on  fancy  rather  than  on  fact?  Your 
butcher,  your  baker,  your  candlestick  maker,  each  in 
his  own  field  may  be  a  thorough  master  of  his  business, 
but  if  the  training  of  these  men  has  not  been  such  as  to 
make  for  upright,  honest,  square  dealing,  then  their  edu- 
cation has  not  been  practical,  and  in  the  open  market 
these  men  are  worth  less  than  one  hundred  cents  on  the 
dollar,  and  "  rejected  "  is  to  be  written  on  their  credentials. 

Many  favorable  signs  there  are  looking  toward  the 
better  understanding  of  what  character  and  civic  right- 
eousness really  mean,  and  the  place  they  should  occupy 
in  our  daily  life  and  dealings.  Many  also  are  the 
signs  pointing  toward  increased  opportunities  for  laying 


jo  Ideals   and  Democracy 

foundations  for  such  understanding.  The  great  peace 
movement  is  spreading;  a  sturdy,  clean  commercialism  is 
coming  to  the  front;  the  rush  of  young  men  and  women 
cityward  is  being  curbed,  and  the  country  is  becoming 
more  attractive  than  ever  before;  crowded,  unwholesome 
conditions  in  the  city  are  being  eliminated;  forms  of 
industrial  training  and  home  economics  in  school  are 
offering  the  most  effective  means  for  the  best  moral  in- 
struction; proper  attention  to  the  physical  needs  of 
school  children  is  tending  to  reduce  the  number  of  those 
who  have  been  counted  lazy  or  incompetent  or  mentally 
deficient;  much  attention  is  given  children's  reading,  and 
they  are  drilled  in  the  art  of  study.  All  this  forecasts 
the  dawning  of  a  new  day. 

From  those  outside  the  school  there  frequently  comes 
the  greatest  help.  To-day  the  need  for  a  high  standard 
of  ideals  in  education  and  in  business  must  be  advocated 
by  those  without  the  teaching  profession  as  well  as  by 
those  in  it.  And  by  these  former  also  must  this  higher 
standard  be  exemplified.  When  Theodore  Roosevelt,  in 
the  Earl  Lectures,1  hit  out  fearlessly  at  graft  and  sham 
and  superficial  living  he  struck  a  chord  of  response  in 
every  section  of  our  land. 

With  the  proper  training  in  our  schools  there  will  de- 
velop young  men  and  women  who  will  mold  and  shape 
public  opinion  and  stand  for  realizable  ideals.  The  future 
citizens  will  frown  upon  the  special  privilege  and  welcome 
mutual  trust  and  equal  rights  for  all.  They  will  declare 
against  the  "short-change"  method  in  business  or  politics, 
and  demand  open-handed  dealing  in  shop  or  mine  or  mill. 
They  will  so  preach  and  practice  that  honesty  will  be,  not 
the  "best  policy";  it  will  be  the  only  policy. 

i  Delivered  in  the  Greek  Theatre,  University  of  California, 
April,  1911. 


M en  in  the  Making  31 

Men  and  women  should  realize  that,  aside  from  the 
home  influences,  nowhere  can  right  lessons  be  taught  so 
well  as  in  the  school.  Here  the  intercourse  of  pupil  with 
pupil  reflects  in  small  the  great  throbbing,  pulsating  world 
without.  Here  the  boy  has  duties  and  obligations;  he 
meets  others  in  friendly  rivalry  or  in  honest  cooperation; 
he  must  be  serious  and  sad,  happy  and  cheerful;  he  is 
to  give  and  trke,  to  ask  and  receive,  to  compete  and 
assist,  to  accept  and  reject;  he  must  create  and  destroy, 
analyze  and  compare,  investigate  and  decide,  learn  and 
unlearn;  and  everywhere  and  always,  in  school  and  out, 
unless  all  that  is  learned,  unless  all  that  the  boy  becomes, 
is  based  upon  a  sound  appreciation  of  ethical  and  moral 
life  and  responsibility  the  real  work  of  the  school  is  not 
accomplished  and  failure,  not  success,  is  the  reward  of  the 
individual  and  the  achievement  of  education. 

My  plea  is  for  a  training  in  conduct  and  character  that, 
beginning  in  the  home  and  carried  on  by  the  school,  the 
Sunday  school,  and  the  church,  shall  spread  and  broaden 
in  the  life  of  the  individual,  to  the  end  that  politics  shall 
be  pure,  commercialism  shall  be  clean,  and  society  shall 
be  sound.  An  education  aiming  at  less  is  a  delusion  and 
a  snare. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  NEW  CENTURY'S  AWAKENING 


centuries  past  an  Englishman  in  the  service 
A  of  the  Dutch  sought  a  short  route  to  India.  Many 
had  dreamed  of  a  direct  and  safe  passage  thither  and  more 
than  one  hardy  soul  had  attempted  to  find  such.  Holland 
had  built  up  an  extensive  trade  upon  the  sea.  She  was 
then,  as  she  is  to-day,  a  wealthy  country.  But  the  way 
to  India  was  long,  the  ships  small,  and  chartless  the  un- 
friendly waters.  This  Englishman  who  served  the  Dutch 
three  hundred  years  ago  represented  the  best  organized 
and  most  wealthy  corporation  of  the  day,  the  Dutch  East 
India  Company.  This  man,  like  many  another  before 
him,  had  seen  visions  and  had  dreamed  dreams.  For  him 
a  way  should  open,  and  he  would  lead  his  people  to  the 
promised  land.  Brave,  loyal,  earnest,  determined,  with 
his  face  seaward,  he  went  forward  to  his  task. 

His  equipment?  Less  than  as  many  dollars  as  there 
are  days  in  a  year  with  which  to  stock  and  provision  his 
boat.  To  his  wife  a  promise  by  the  company  of  eighty 
dollars  in  case  the  explorer  never  returned.  In  an  obscure 
corner  of  the  paper  of  agreement  a  further  promise  to 
reward  him  at  discretion  should  success  crown  his  efforts. 
Then  with  an  untried  crew  of  a  score  of  men  he  sailed  away 
in  a  ship  so  small  and  mean  and  fragile  you  would  not 
go  in  her  in  a  storm  from  the  Statue  of  Liberty  to  Ellis 
Island.  His  orders  were  to  sail  to  the  north  and  to  return 
if  no  passage  was  discovered.  But  he  encountered  ice 
and  contrary  to  orders  he  bore  away  to  the  west  and  into 
the  setting  sun. 


The  New   Century's  Awakening          33 

And  what  of  Henry  Hudson?  He  crossed  the  Atlantic 
and  sailed  up  the  river  that  now  bears  his  name.  On 
returning  to  Holland  he  was  accorded  barely  a  "thank 
you,"  so  disappointed  were  the  members  of  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company  that  the  coveted  passage  was  still 
lost  to  them.  Then  at  a  later  date  Hudson,  sailing  under 
the  flag  of  his  own  country,  England,  discovered  the  land 
around  Hudson  Bay  and  the  bay  itself.  But  ice  barred  his 
way.  The  situation  became  serious,  and  it  seemed  that 
Hudson  and  his  men  must  winter  in  that  awful  region. 
Provisions  were  low,  and  Hudson  undertook  to  safeguard 
the  lives  of  his  men  by  storing  away  in  his  own  cabin  such 
portion  of  food  as  would  be  needed  later.  But,  so  strange 
a  thing  is  fate,  this  very  act  of  his  was  used  as  an  excuse 
for  mutiny.  He  was  placed  with  three  sick  men  and  a 
helpless  boy  in  an  open  boat,  and  in  the  embrace  of  the 
icebound,  everlasting  waters  of  the  north,  with  his  face 
still  to  the  west,  Hudson  without  a  word  drifted  away 
into  eternal  remembrance. 

The  Dutch  East  India  Company  is  almost  forgotten, 
save  for  its  misdeeds,  but  Hudson's  name  is  remembered. 
He  saw  a  vision.  He  worked  not  for  gain  or  Hudson's 
for  glory.  He  worked  for  others,  and  working  lesson  to 
thus  he  labored  for  himself.  Not  long  since  humanity 
in  the  city  of  New  York  there  occurred  a  celebration  in 
honor  of  the  three-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  discovery 
of  one  of  the  most  wonderful  rivers  in  the  world.  In 
the  harbor  and  scattered  up  and  down  the  river  were 
craft  representing  every  nation  on  the  earth  with  ships 
afloat.  And  at  night,  to  one  standing  upon  the  river's 
bank  and  watching  the  myriad  lights  flash  out  from  this 
city  on  the  water,  the  thought  would  come  as  to  whether 
anything  akin  to  this  scene  appeared  in  the  vision  of 
Henry  Hudson  as  he  began  his  life  anew. 


j4  Ideals   and   Democracy 

And  now  three  hundred  years  from  the  time  when  the 
Half  Moon  of  Henry  Hudson  carried  her  wondering 
crew  past  the  palisades  and  the  canoes  of  the  startled 
first  Americans,  our  thoughts  are  directed  across  valley 
and  mountain  and  desert  to  the  seas  of  Balboa.  Here  on 
the  heights  rising  above  the  old  ocean  that  for  centuries 
has  beat  in  its  uneasy,  ceaseless  motion  against  the  shores, 
there  stands  a  multitude  of  people  gazing  outward  over 
the  Pacific.  Away  yonder  where  the  sky  meets  the  water 
a  spot  of  white  appears  over  the  rim  of  the  Pacific — a 
spot  that  grows — and  then  another  and  another.  From 
bits  of  white  cloud  the  size  of  the  hand  they  unfold  and 
separate.  Sails,  masts,  turrets,  massive  hulls,  gigantic 
engines  of  war,  men  and  cannon  and  flags,  sixteen  of 
the  most  wonderful  arsenals  that  were  ever  set  afloat 
are  bearing  down  upon  the  land  that  holds  in  check  the 
sundown  sea. 

Let  loose  months  before  from  that  side  of  the  continent 
where  Hudson  found  only  Indians  and  wild  beasts,  these 
The  mission  vessels  have  come  around  the  world  to  bear 
°baM0dh"  US  gfeeting'  Since  Hudson's  day  one  hundred 
million  people  have  found  homes  on  this  soil. 
These  massive  structures  are  their  property.  They  bear 
our  brothers  on  their  decks  and  sail  in  our  service.  And 
although  there  are  now  many  routes  to  India,  these  ves- 
sels represent  a  small  portion  only  of  the  great  navy  we 
must  maintain  that  trade  may  be  carried  on  with  our 
fellows  in  other  lands,  that  lives  may  be  safe,  that  honor 
and  integrity  may  be  assured,  that  our  own  country  may 
be  free  from  invasion  by  our  sister  nations,  that  peace 
may  be  secured  to  us  even  at  the  expense  of  war. 

In  these  three  hundred  years  what  marvelous  changes 
have  been  wrought!  Step  by  step  the  first  Americans 
have  been  driven  back— back  from  the  lands  bordering 


The  New   Century's   Awakening          35 

the  Atlantic  to  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  valleys  of  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi;  to  the  plains  stretching  to 

the  shoulders  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  to       n. 

Changes  and 

the  deserts  that  even  now  the  white  man  development  in 
covets.  During  these  three  centuries  the  three  centurie* 
forests  that  sheltered  these  natives  and  wild  beasts  have 
given  place  to  orchards  and  vineyards  and  vast  granaries 
that  feed  the  world.  The  tepee  of  the  Indian  is  gone,  and 
in  its  place  stands  the  massive  manufacturing  plant  that 
turns  the  raw  material  into  the  finished  product.  Instead 
of  the  trail  is  the  trolley.  The  whole  continent  is  a  checker 
board,  crossed  by  bands  of  steel.  Messages  are  no  longer 
carried  by  fainting  rider  on  weary  horse,  but  flashing 
back  and  forth  they  come  from  Atlantic  to  Pacific  as  the 
shuttle  moves  before  the  vision.  The  streams  are  alive 
with  humanity.  The  ocean  on  either  side  bears  to  and 
fro  the  people  of  many  nations  and  the  products  of 
many  lands. 

Progress  has  been  abroad  in  these  three  centuries. 
Homes  have  been  builded,  schools  and  churches  have  done 
their  work,  mighty  deeds  have  been  accomplished,  dis- 
tance has  been  conquered,  a  new  nation  has  been  born, 
and  to-day  the  most  wonderful  people  inhabit  the  most 
wonderful  land  in  the  most  wonderful  age  the  world  has 
ever  known. 

But  at  what  cost!  No  great  work  has  ever  been 
achieved  without  its  price — price  in  pain  and  sacrifice 
and  death.  The  victory  may  be  glorious,  The  heavy 

but  somewhere  homes  are  saddened  and  price  paid 
hearts  are  sore.  During  these  three  centuries  f°r  ^rogre' 
of  progress  men  have  constantly  paid  a  heavy  price.  If 
greed  has  made  glory  possible  and  poverty  has  flowered 
into  progress,  there  are  those  who  have  suffered.  Selfish- 
ness and  corruption  and  dishonor  and  slavery  and  war 


j6  Ideals   and   Democracy 

have  all  claimed  their  toll  of  human  life.  War  still  goes 
on.  We  must  keep  up  our  mighty  navies,  our  standing 
armies,  our  coast  fortifications,  our  strongholds  in  the 
interior.  We  war  in  fact  or  we  war  in  spirit.  Nor  is 
this  all.  We  must  maintain  a  readiness  for  war  even 
though  our  brother  suffers  for  the  necessities  of  life.  Our 
national  debt  must  be  increased  that  modern  armaments 
may  be  set  aside  for  still  more  modern  types.  Our  boys 
in  school  must  be  prepared  and  made  ready,  as  were  the 
Spartans  of  old,  for  the  time  when  patriotism  shall  develop 
into  powder,  and  friendship  and  brotherhood  be  lost  in  the 
desire  for  territorial  expansion  or  commercial  greatness. 

The  issue  in  the  future  should  be  one  of  principle. 
To-day  might  does  not  make  right.  Men  must  at  last  be 
Universal  trained  in  the  ethics  of  peace.  A  great 
peace  a  funda-  moral  principle  is  involved  and  the  home, 
mental  issue  ^  churchj  and  the  school  must  stand  as 

the  centers  of  moral  training.  We  are  brought  face  to 
face  with  an  issue  that  means  more  in  the  future  develop- 
ment of  the  people  than  does  commerce  or  party  politics 
or  polar  exploration,  because  it  is  more  fundamental 
than  these.  Money  and  lands  and  power  and  territorial 
greatness  and  glory  may  no  longer  be  secured  at  the  price 
of  poverty  and  intrigue  and  war.  To  create  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  necessity  for  peace,  and  of  the  curse 
of  war  among  civilized  peoples,  high  ideals  must  develop 
and  moral  standards  must  be  commonly  held. 

One  of  the  greatest  elements  that  shall  make  for  high 
moral  standards,  and  that  should  be  taught  in  the  home, 
the  school,  and  the  church,  is  the  necessity  for  and  sacred- 
ness  of  peace  among  nations.  We  talk  much  of  the 
necessity  for  peace  and  friendship  between  rpan  and  man, 
but  at  some  slight  provocation  nation  has  been  plunged 
into  war  with  nation  that  commercial  honor  may  stand 


The  New  Century's  Awakening          37 

untarnished,  that  territorial  glory  may  be  upheld,  or  that 
personal  ambition  may  be  gratified. 

The  man  who  is  not  morally  sound  when  dealing  with 
himself  cannot,  in  a  broad  sense,  be  morally  sound  when 
dealing  with  others.  Society  is  made  up  of  The  integrity 
groups  of  individuals,  and  as  the  individual  °f  society  de- 
so  the  society.  We  meet  one  another  upon  ^nandhlnlll 
the  street,  in  the  home,  at  the  school,  at  our  nations 

places  of  business,  in  the  lodge  room,  in  the  church.  We 
carry  on  our  various  lines  of  business  or  practice  our 
professions;  we  buy  and  sell,  borrow  and  lend,  talk  poli- 
tics or  crops  or  religion,  show  little  acts  of  courtesy  to 
one  another,  speak  the  kind  word  and  extend  the  helping 
hand,  but  these  things,  necessary  and  needful  and  com- 
mendable though  they  be,  often  only  mirror  the  moral 
nature.  Morality  is  deeper  and  lies  at  the  very  founda- 
tion of  these  outward  signs. 

Morality  cannot  come  until  true  friendship  comes. 
True  friendship  for  another  means,  many  times,  forgetting 
oneself ;  it  means  doing  the  thing  that  may  show  the  doer 
to  the  world  at  a  disadvantage;  it  means  sacrifice,  pain, 
loss,  poverty,  dishonor,  death.  But  out  of  it  all  come 
reward,  pleasure,  profit,  riches,  honor,  and  life  eternal. 

Friendship,  however,  to  be  most  meaningful,  must  lay 
its  foundation  far  outside  the  circle  of  that  chosen  few 

with  whom  we  regularly  associate  and  whom  .    .  .. 

_,  .  Provincialism 

we  delight  to  call  our  mends.     This  lesson    in  friendships 

our  institutions  must  teach.    Selfishness  and  means 

selfishness 

provincialism  characterize  those  who  are  un- 
willing to  call  all  men  brothers  and  all  nations  neighbors. 
Until  the  time  shall  come  when  man  shall  rest  content 
only  as  he  forgets  his  own  selfish  interests,  in  carrying 
peace  and  contentment,  hope  and  inspiration,  to  all — 
until  such  time  shall  come  when  man  shall  not  think  of 


38  Ideals   and   Democracy 

himself  "more  highly  than  he  ought  to  think,"  the  real 
friendship  of  man  to  man,  of  people  to  people,  and  of 
nation  to  nation  cannot  be  established.  This  is  one  of 
the  very  fundamentals  of  moral  teaching. 

The  question  of  the  necessity  for  real  friendships  between 
man  and  man,  between  nation  and  nation,  is  a  great  moral 
issue,  and  I  would  draw  your  attention  to  two  or  three 
homely  illustrations  of  the  selfishness  and  greed  of  the 
world  and  the  need  for  the  joining  of  hands  of  the  church, 
the  school,  and  the  home  in  an  endeavor  to  bring  to  the 
coming  generations  a  proper  conception  of  things.  We  are 
willing  to  concede  the  necessity  for  personal  friendships, 
but  this  commercial  age  has  such  a  hold  upon  our  minds 
and  our  consciences,  our  palms  and  our  purses,  that  we 
forget  the  significance  of  a  national  friendship  and  of  an 
international  morality. 

Not  long  since,  through  the  fog  that  hung  heavy  over 
the  old  ocean,  away  to  westward,  there  crept  into  the 

harbor  at  San  Pedro,  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
Necessity  for  +          ,         ., 

international     ancl  anchored  at  the  very  western  edge  of 

friendships^  the  continent,  two  vessels  from  a  foreign 
an  illustration  «  j  ,  r 

land  bearing  a  foreign  people.     There  was 

no  pilot  to  bring  them  in,  no  sun  shone  to  guide  them,  no 
cannon's  roar  told  them  that  the  journey  was  at  an  end, 
no  lookout  saw  the  land  as  did  Columbus  sight  the  eastern 
side  of  this  continent.  But  through  the  fog  the  sailing 
master,  as  he  studied  a  chart  in  his  cabin,  and  the  man  at 
the  lead,  as  he  took  his  soundings,  knew  when  the  last 
foot  had  been  traveled,  and  the  Japanese  ships  cast  anchor 
in  San  Pedro  Bay.  And  these  Japanese!  We  welcomed 
them;  they  were  shown  the  sights  of  our  cities  and  towns; 
they  ate  at  our  tables;  they  listened  to  our  words  of 
friendship  and  praise  and  felt  our  hearty  handclasps. 
But  how  long  and  under  what  circumstances  shall  these 


The  New   Century's   Awakening          39 

two  nations  be  friends?  Always,  we  trust,  and  under  any 
and  all  conditions  and  circumstances;  but  if  greed,  or 
glory,  or  commercialism,  or  desire  for  territorial  expansion, 
or  revenge,  or  hatred  on  our  part  shall  ever  set  aside  this 
bond  of  friendship,  then  have  our  homes,  our  schools,  and 
our  churches  been  negligent  in  their  duty  in  teaching 
lessons  of  real  virtue  and  morality  and  reverence  and 
brotherly  love,  and  this  American  people  shall  have  been 
untrue  to  itself. 

Selfishness  begets  war,  and  war  has  done  more  to  break 
down  the  results  of  moral  and  religious  teachings  than  all 
other  causes  combined.  I  have  stood  in  that  War  aiways 
old  historic  French  city  of  Rouen,  looking  up  the  enemy 
at  the  statue  of  the  French  girl,  Joan  of  Arc,  of  morals 
erected  upon  the  spot  where,  bound  with  chains  and 
surrounded  by  human  beings,  she  was  burned  to  death 
by  our  own  English  ancestors.  And  my  mind  went  back 
to  those  days  of  which  this  scene  was  the  forerunner — 
the  days  of  the  Commune  and  the  French  Revolution. 

You  recall  how  for  centuries  the  nobles  and  the  higher 
clergy  had  been  working  in  France  for  selfish  ends.  The 

common  people,  the  laboring  classes,  the 

The  curse  of 
peasants,   themselves  labonng  for   a  bare    the  Commune 

pittance,  were  forced  to  give  the  major  por-  and  *%f  Fr™.ch 

Revolution 
tion  of  their  earnings  to  the  church  and  the 

aristocracy.  In  many  instances  the  poor  people  were 
hurried  away  to  prison  if  the  extravagant  demands  of 
the  aristocracy  were  not  met,  and  at  a  later  date  the 
Bastile  and  the  guillotine  awaited  any  whose  beliefs  or 
opinions  ran  counter  to  the  utterances  of  those  in  power. 
Previous  to  the  peasant  uprising  the  people  were  mur- 
dered by  hundreds  and  they  starved  by  thousands.  The 
aristocracy  of  France  cared  absolutely  nothing  for  the 
people,  and  when  at  last  human  endurance  was  at  an  end 


40  Ideals   and   Democracy 

they  arose — men,  women,  children;  starved,  vengeful, 
ill  kept.  You  know  the  result.  The  people  won.  Vic- 
tory came  to  the  deserving,  as  it  always  does;  as  it  had 
come  to  our  people  a  few  years  earlier  in  our  own  revo- 
lution. But  at  what  cost?  France  has  never  to  this 
day  rallied  from  the  results  of  her  wars.  Morality  was 
swallowed  up  in  greed.  As  moral  forces,  the  school  and 
the  church  counted  for  very  little.  The  flower  of  the 
French  nation  was  swept  away. 

To  note  the  lack  of  potent  moral  instruction  in  those 
great  centers  of  moral  and  religious  inspiration,  the  school, 
the  home,  and  the  church,  is  to  trace  the 

Curse  °f  war'  an(i  to  d°  this  °ne  has  but  to 
study  conditions  as  they  now  exist.    Pathetic 

it  is  to  see  in  the  smaller  countries  of  Europe  the  poverty 
and  squalor,  the  misery  and  wretchedness  and  privation 
of  the  people,  and  the  glory  and  pomp  and  splendor  of  the 
ruling  classes.  The  pride  of  little  Denmark  is  still  its 
army  and  the  castles  and  courts  of  its  rulers.  I  have 
stood  by  the  side  of  the  governor  of  one  of  the  Swedish 
provinces  as  he  reviewed  the  vast  number  in  the  standing 
army — an  army  daily  costing  fortunes  to  sustain — and 
have  on  the  same  day  broken  bread  in  the  home  of  a 
Swedish  peasant,  the  old  father  and  mother  barely  able  to 
sustain  life,  the  sons  in  the  army  or  far  over  seas.  What  a 
contrast !  And  what  of  our  country  ?  Are  we  following  in 
the  footsteps  of  our  sister  nations  ?  Had  moral  instruction 

been  for  the  last  fifty  years  the  chief  ele- 
Proper  moral  ,  .        ., 

instruction         ment  in  education,  wars  would  have  long  ago 

would  stamp  been  impossible  in  this  and  every  country. 
Brother  must  cease  to  struggle  with  brother, 
man  with  man,  community  with  community.  Peace,  not 
war,  must  be  the  watchword;  love,  rather  than  hate, 
must  be  blazoned  upon  our  banners.  Nation  must  trust 


The  New  Century's   Awakening          41 

nation,  and  the  good  of  all  rather  than  the  selfish  interests 
of  a  few  must  be  the  chief  consideration.  Only  a  nation 
morally  strong  can  long  endure. 

"The  crest  and  crowning  of  all  good, 
Life's  final  star,  is  Brotherhood. 
For  it  will  bring  again  to  Earth 
Her  long-lost  Poesy  and  Mirth; 
Will  send  new  light  on  every  face, 
A  kingly  power  upon  the  race. 
And  till  it  come,  we  men  are  slaves, 
And  travel  downward  to  the  dust  of  graves. 

"Come,  clear  the  way,  then,  clear  the  way: 
Blind  creeds  and  kings  have  had  their  day. 
Break  the  dead  branches  from  the  path; 
Our  hope  is  in  the  aftermath — 
Our  hope  is  in  heroic  men, 
Star-led  to  build  the  world  again. 
To  this  Event  the  ages  ran: 
Make  way  for  Brotherhood — make  way  for  Man. " l 

Talk  as  we  may  of  the  value  of  military  drill  in  the 
school,  it  is  largely  a  relic  of  barbarism  and  an  echo  of 
tradition.  Companies  are  formed,  marching 
favoring*  clubs,  boys'  brigades,  scouting  parties.  We 
military  drill  claim  that  in  the  matter  of  physical  devel- 
opment these  organizations  are  unexcelled. 
The  boys  are  kept  in  the  open  air;  they  become  strong 
and  vigorous;  they  learn  from  nature;  they  learn  from 
their  fellows;  they  become  brave  and  honest  and  helpful; 
class  distinctions  are  torn  away;  they  appreciate  the 
meaning  of  discipline;  they  learn  to  obey,  and  learning 
this  are  preparing  themselves  to  lead  and  to  command. 
Even  the  Boy  Scout  movement,  organized  through  proper 
motives,  has  largely  developed  into  a  military  organization. 
And  when  the  evidence  is  all  in  we  find  the  main  excuse 

1  Brotherhood,  by  Edwin  Markham. 


42  Ideals   and   Democracy 

for  the  existence  among  schoolboys  of  such  organizations 
to  be  set  forth  in  the  utterance  of  a  man  in  public  life 
and  quoted  in  a  recent  issue  of  a  great  daily.  "To  organ- 
ize the  American  Boy  Scouts  is  a  creditable  move,"  he 
says.  "Talk  as  you  will  about  universal  peace  and  all 
that,  but  martial  spirit  is  a  good  thing  to  instill  into  the 
youth  of  the  land.  Martial  spirit  and  interest  in  things 
military  is  easily  engendered  in  youngsters,  more  so  than 
in  their  elders,  and  both  the  Civil  War  and  the  Spanish- 
American  trouble  proved  the  worth  of  young  men  who 
had  an  inkling  of  tactics  and  camp  life  before  they  swore 
allegiance  to  Uncle  Sam." 

Here  then  is  the  so-called  practical  man,  the  man  of 
affairs,  the  man  who  has  served  his  country  on  the  field, 
The  fallacy  of  ^vising  this  early  training  in  things  military 
things  military  because  marches  and  camps  and  firearms 
in  the  school  and  smoke  and  cannon»s  roar  3^  the  details 

of  the  battle  field  appeal  to  the  youth  even  more  than  to 
their  elders.  In  the  olden  days  the  Spartan  youth  were 
so  educated  and  so  drilled.  They  were  taught  also  the 
art  of  theft,  punishment  coming  only  when  they  were 
detected.  Just  because  the  youth  is  susceptible  to  teach- 
ing and  instruction,  whether  good  or  bad,  is  exactly  the 
reason  for  a  proper  training  of  children  in  the  home,  the 
school,  and  the  church.  Why  not  follow  the  lead  of  some 
of  our  European  countries,  and  compel  all  young  men  to 
serve  an  apprenticeship  in  the  army,  that  they  may 
prepare  against  the  time  when  shall  come  the  call  to 
battle? 

"Every  self-respecting,  humanity  loving  man  should 
closely  watch  the  efforts  to  put  afoot  a  movement  that  has 
for  its  purpose  the  militarizing  of  our  American  public 
school  system.  It  is  not  fear  which  prompts  this  note  of 
warning  that  the  introduction  of  this  line  of  instruction 


The  New  Century's  Awakening          43 

will  particularly  hurt  the  system  or  the  prevalent  educa- 
tional methods,  but  because  to  us  it  seems  to  have  the 
stamp  of  a  well  thought  out  scheme  to  poison  the  minds 
of  the  children. 

"Militarism  is  a  disease  bred  of  ignorance,  foreign  in 
origin  and  character  to  an  intelligent  social  order.  Unless 
we  are  ready  to  admit  that  we  neither  have  nor  can  have 
in  the  near  future  such  intelligent  social  order,  we  must 
be  opposed  to  its  being  foisted  upon  the  school  children. 
Wherever  enters  militarism,  out  goes  democracy.  Its 
rule  does  not  permit  of  argument,  of  reason,  of  love  for 
either  child  or  mother,  for  either  father  or  sister.  As  we 
know  militarism,  it  represents  arrogance  and  brutality. 

"The  gun  and  education  are  unalterably  opposed. 
Discipline  and  submission  are  not  one  and  the  same  thing. 
To  charge  the  air  of  the  schoolroom  with  the  military 
spirit  does  not  mean  discipline. 

"All  of  these  facts  have  long  been  recognized  by  the 
men  and  women  advocating  the  new  education,  as  it  was 
found  that  a  fine  physique  and  a  warped  mind  are  bad 
companions. 

"A  fine  physique  and  a  fine,  comprehensive  mind, — this 
is  the  slogan  of  real  education.  Physical  and  manual 
training  will  supply  to  our  youth  all  and  more  of  the 
advantages  claimed  for  khakiism;  it  will  make  strong, 
true,  industrious  men;  it  will  make  of  them  world 
patriots."1 

Morals  cannot  be  legislated  into  human  beings ;  neither 
can  they  be  driven  home  at  the  point  of  a  bayonet. 
Unless  we  develop  a  nation  of  men  and  women  who  in  the 
plastic  period  of  childhood  have  been  taught  the  curse 
of  war  and  the  meaning  of  brotherhood  between  peoples 
of  whatever  country,  or  nationality,  or  color,  we  shall 

1  The  Progressive  Journal  of  Education^  Vol.  II,  p.  207. 


44  Ideals   and   Democracy 

have  schools  teaching  militarism  and  find  boys  anxious 
for  war.  We  must  begin  in  the  school. 

In  school  also  less  attention  should  be  given  the  war 
side  of  history.  Take  from  the  average  textbook  on 
The  tendency  mstorv  to-day  those  portions  dealing  directly 
of  history  to  or  indirectly  with  wars  and  there  is  little 
glorify  war  remaining.  Causes  of  and  preparations  for 
war,  size  of  armies,  dates  and  locations  of  battles,  lurid 
pen  pictures  of  carnage  and  destruction  and  death,  the 
shouts  of  men,  the  cries  of  the  wounded,  the  smoke  and 
blaze  of  powder,  the  roar  of  shot,  the  battle-scarred  flags, 
the  groans  of  the  vanquished  and  the  cheers  of  the  victor, 
these  have  a  prominent  place  in  our  schools.  And  then 
the  periods  that  follow  the  war — a  country  disfigured  and 
desolate,  crops  destroyed,  homes  forsaken,  people  sunk  in 
poverty  and  want,  and  the  graves  of  the  best  and  strong- 
est of  the  nation's  heroes. 

History  must  reveal  the  glory  and  dignity  and  power 
of  peace  rather  than  the  glitter  and  splendor  of  war.  It 
Thereat  '  must  trace  the  needs  of  the  statesman,  the 
province  of  inventor,  the  mechanic,  the  writer,  the  philan- 
history  study  thropist>  the  explorer,  the  settler,  the  farmer, 
rather  than  those  of  the  warrior  and  the  soldier. 

"Our  fathers  ...  got  not  the  land  in  possession  by 
their  own  sword,  neither  did  their  own  arm  save  them: 
but  thy  right  hand,  and  thine  arm,  and  the  light  of 
thy  countenance,  because  thou  hadst  a  favour  unto 
them. "  *  For  the  brave  men  of  all  past  time,  who  without 
selfishness  or  thought  of  glory  or  honor,  and  at  great 
personal  sacrifice  and  financial  loss,  have  given  their 
lives  that  the  state  might  be  spared,  we  are  thankful. 
But  the  day  is  now  at  hand  to  lay  aside  the  memory  of 
the  circumstances  that  made  wars  necessarv,  and  to  hold 

1  Psalms t  xliv,  3. 


The  New   Century's  Awakening          45 

before  the  vision  those  things  that  shall  render  further  war 
forever  impossible.     Universal  peace  must  reign. 

Our  institutions  should  seek  to  make  clear  the  fact 
that  increased  navies  and  enlarged  standing  armies  will 
not  tend  to  decrease  the  prospect  of  war.  When,  a  few 
years  since,  wonderful  inventions  gave  to  us  guns  of  tre- 
mendous power  and  accuracy  it  was  said  by  many  that 
this  alone  would  prevent  war.  That  no  army  or  navy 
could  withstand  the  fire  from  such  destructive  engines 
was  the  conclusion. 

In  the  old  days  it  was  war  constantly.  Contests  of 
strength  or  cunning  saved  life,  or  property,  or  honor. 
An  argument  ended  in  a  duel,  an  insult  in  Primitive 
a  tribal  uprising.  A  dispute  over  boundary  man  a  natural 
lines,  or  division  of  spoils,  or  the  payment  of 
a  debt  meant  bloodshed  and  massacre  and  revenge  and 
war.  Men  were  ever  on  the  alert  to  wrench  from  their 
neighbors  that  which  did  not  belong  to  them,  and  the 
outposts  had  to  be  constantly  guarded. 

In  order  to  prevent  war  this  nation  and  our  sister 
nations  vied,  each  with  the  other,  in  securing  an  adequate 
armament.  But  hardly  had  this  wonderful  Preparedness 
race  for  supremacy  got  well  under  way  than  for  war  will  not 
powerful  war  vessels  and  dreadnaughts  be-  *"**&** 
gan  to  take  shape.  Now  surely  war  should  cease,  for  what 
could  bide  the  onslaughts  of  one  of  these  monsters !  And 
again  nation  followed  nation  in  draining  the  pockets  of 
the  poor  that  floating  arsenals  should  be  in  readiness  to 
prevent  war.  And  as  a  last  development  comes  the  fly- 
ing machine,  which  some  claim  must  certainly  do  away 
with  all  thoughts  of  war,  as  whole  cities  and  navies  could 
be  destroyed  by  explosives  dropped  from  above. 

So  long,  however,  as  we  prepare  for  war,  war  will  not 
cease.  And  people  must  suffer,  the  country  must  be 


$  Ideals   and   Democracy 

hopelessly  in  debt,  suspicion  must  hang  over  our  neigh- 
bors, and  our  moral  natures  must  be  dwarfed  and  shriveled, 
Hear  Eben  Rexford  say:1 

"O  bells,  to-day  let  warfare  cease! 
Christ  came  to  be  a  Prince  of  Peace. 
No  longer  let  the  sound  of  drum 
Or  trumpet,  campward  calling,  come 
To  vex  the  earth  with  dread,  and  make 
The  hearts  of  wives  and  mothers  ache. 
Leave  battle-flags  to  moths  and  dust — 
Let  gun  and  sword  grow  red  with  rust! 
Earth  groans  with  carnage — let  it  cease — 
Ring  in  the  thousand  years  of  Peace! 


"Ring  out  the  littleness  of  things, 
Ring  in  the  broader  thought  that  brings 
Swift  end  to  all  ignoble  creeds. 
Ring  in  an  age  of  noble  deeds 
For  all  things  pure,  and  high,  and  good — 
The  era  of  true  brotherhood. 
Ring  out  the  lust  for  gold  and  gain — 
The  greed  that  cripples  soul  and  brain, 
And  open  eyes,  long  blind,  to  see 
What  grander,  better  things  there  be!" 

To-day  our  whole  social  fabric  is  built  upon  the  con- 
ception of  brotherhood;  our  commercial  relations  are 
Present  social  kase^  upon  confidence  placed  in  our  fellows. 
and  civic  life  Tear  down  this  mutual  trust  and  confidence 
^spiri^o/11  an(^  our  comrflercial  and  financial  standing 
trust  and  would  totter  in  a  day.  The  same  trust 
arbitration  and  confidence  displayed  between  man  and 
man  should  be  in  force  between  nation  and  nation.  We 
elect  our  chief  executive,  not  at  the  point  of  a  sword,  but 
by  arbitration,  that  is,  we  agree  to  accept  the  judgment 
of  the  majority.  The  winners  in  a  game  of  baseball  are 

1  "At  Christmas  Time,"  in  Home  and  Flowers. 


The  New  Century's  Awakening          47 

determined  by  arbitration.  A  contest  in  debate  or 
oratory  is  decided  by  judges  chosen  by  representatives 
from  either  side.  We  visit  the  tin  shop  or  grocery  store 
or  carriage  factory,  and  by  mutual  agreement  exchange 
money  for  goods.  We  bring  dutiable  articles  from  a 
foreign  country  into  our  own  and  arbitrate  as  to  their 
value.  We  are  slandered  or  misrepresented  in  the  public 
prints,  and  push  our  prosecution  through  the  courts,  thus 
agreeing  to  arbitrate  the  case.  We  argue  and  vote  upon 
the  tariff,  and  suffrage,  and  the  liquor  question,  and 
franchises,  and  race-track  gambling,  and  abide  by  the 
decision  of  the  majority — in  other  words,  we  arbitrate. 
The  schools  must  teach  that  war  is  not  necessarily  dignified 
or  patriotic  or  humane;  that  it  is  usually  unnecessary, 
and  that  peaceable  agreement  brings  better  results  than 
unhappy  war;  that  dreadnaughts  will  insure  peace  less 
quickly  than  will  mutual  trust  and  confidence. 

Let  others  speak  of  our  tremendous  expenditure  in 
dollars  and  cents  in  building  up  our  army  and  navy,  our 
natural   and   artificial   defenses.     Let  them 
show  how  the  cost  of  one  dreadnaught  will  mVpeace 

build  all  needed  schoolhouses,  pay  all  teachers'  will  result 
salaries,  including  an  increase  of  ten  per  * 
cent,  and  defray  the  entire  cost  of  educating 
the  school  children  in  a  city  of  a  million  and  a  half  of 
people  for  an  entire  year.  Let  them  show  how  elimina- 
tion of  poverty  and  disease  could  be  hastened  by  applying 
at  the  roots  of  these  evils  the  energy  and  money  put 
into  needless  preparations  for  war.  One  argument  alone, 
and  that,  the  resulting  higher  moral  standards  among 
the  people  of  the  earth,  is  sufficient  to  justify  the  call 
for  universal  peace.  Common  sense  and  justice  should, 
without  statistics,  suffice  to  prove  this.  Brotherly  love 
must  uproot  selfishness;  honor  must  take  the  place  of 


48  Ideals   and   Democracy 

intrigue;  responsibility  and  service  must  be  the  motto 
of  all  men.  Moral  standards  and  high  ideals  must  be 
constantly  before  us. 

I  see  a  vision  of  a  national  ideal  of  responsibility  and 
service,  of  brotherhood  and  peace,  and  as  the  vision 
grows  I  see  a  wonderful  democracy  of  men;  a  union  of 
forces  before  which  every  evil  must  vanish  as  mist  before 
the  sun,  and  in  the  path  of  whose  oncoming,  righteousness 
alone  can  stand. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   CLASSICS  OF  INDUSTRIALISM 

TNDUSTRY  and  art  have  for  so  long  been  separated, 
-L  the  one  from  the  other,  that  little  attention  has  been 
given  the  relation  that  should  exist  between  the  two. 
"Art  for  art's  sake,"  upon  the  one  hand; 
industry  for  strictly  commercial  purposes 
upon  the  other, — these  have  been  the  con- 
ceptions commonly  held  for  many  decades.  It  is  years 
since  an  artistic  commercialism  has  dared  present  itself 
for  consideration. 

One  summer  morning  when  a  boy  I  stood,  shortly  after 
sunrise,  upon  a  bridge  that,  spanning  a  river  in  one  of 
the  largest  cities  on  this  continent,  was  swinging  length- 
wise of  the  stream  to  allow  for  the  passage  of  a  three- 
masted  schooner.  A  country  boy,  this  was  my  first 
view  of  the  great  city  and  of  this  waterway  that,  like  a 
mammoth  ribbon,  divided  the  city  on  either  hand.  As 
I  looked,  delighted  and  amazed,  there  appeared  upon  the 
river,  craft  of  many  descriptions  then  unknown  to  me. 
Tied  at  the  docks  on  either  side  were  barges  of  coal  and 
lumber  unloading  their  cargoes,  these  to  be  in  turn  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  great 
city,  or,  perhaps,  again  loaded  upon  cars  to  be  reshipped 
in  every  direction — the  coal  to  warm  the  homes  of  thou- 
sands and  to  keep  alive  the  furnaces  upon  which  manu- 
factures and  material  progress  depend;  the  lumber  to  be 
turned  into  dwellings  and  the  thousand-and-one  projects 
of  the  arts  and  industries. 

4  49 


$o  Ideals   and  Democracy 

Other  boats  were  taking  on  their  cargoes  of  raw  material 
and  manufactured  goods  to  find  port  in  every  civilized 
portion  of  the  world.  Sailing  craft,  lake  and  ocean- 
going steamships,  small  sculls  and  rowboats,  tenders, 
tugs,  government  cutters,  boats  large  and  small,  old  and 
new,  were  passing  back  and  forth  in  a  ceaseless,  uneasy 
movement.  And  this  coming  and  going,  loading  and 
unloading;  this  activity,  life,  motion,  was  ever  before  the 
eye,  telling  to  those  who  could  read,  of  prosperity  and 
poverty,  of  joy  and  sorrow,  of  pleasure  and  pain,  of  gain 
and  loss;  telling  of  a  commercial  life,  meaningful  and  nec- 
essary, that  was  being  made  to  serve  the  life  of  man. 

But  standing  there  on  this  summer  morning,  the  com- 
mercial significance  of  the  scene  had  no  hold  upon  me. 
The  life,  the  movement,  the  white  sails,  the  brightly 
painted  hulls,  the  slender,  tapering  masts,  the  ease  with 
which  the  immense  floating  structures  slipped  past  one 
another  on  this  narrow  waterway — all  was  to  my  mind  the 
embodiment  of  art  itself.  It  was  only  a  beautiful  pano- 
rama, a  play  enacted  for  my  pleasure.  To  later  years  of 
discrimination  it  was  left  for  me  to  realize  that  another 
meaning  attached  to  this  picture  upon  the  canvas  of  life, 
and  that  bound  up  with  the  scene  that  had  appealed  only 
to  the  eye  was  a  commercial  meaning,  a  business  inter- 
pretation, an  industrial  significance  that  could  not  and 
should  not  be  dissociated  from  the  former.  It  was  an 
industrial  art,  an  artistic  commercialism. 

When  we  endeavor  to  analyze  our  conception  of  the 
term  utility  we  have  a  task  far  from  simple.  We  are 
The  aesthetic  Prone  to  consider  in  an  out-of-hand  manner 
vs.  the  that  the  utilities  are  those  things,  objects, 

utilitarian  Qr  attrjbutes  that  can  be  put  to  immediate, 
material  use.  Anything  that  may  be  used  to  our  own  or 
to  the  advantage  of  others,  anything  that  contributes  to 


The  Classics  of  Industrialism          51 

our  physical  needs,  would  at  once  be  classed  as  a  utility. 
The  utilitarian  view  is,  to  the  common  mind,  opposed  to 
the  cultural  or  to  the  aesthetic  side;  it  is  the  bread-and- 
butter  conception.  Utilitarianism  in  the  popular  sense 
refers  to  trade;  it  bespeaks  the  commercial  spirit;  it  has 
to  do  with  coal  and  iron,  shovel  and  pick,  cotton  and 
coffee,  steam  and  electricity. 

This  view  is  not,  in  a  broad  sense,  the  true  one.  If 
culture  and  utility  were  two  distinctly  different  phases 
of  our  problem,  art  would  have  no  relation  to  either.  All 
legitimate  education  is  both  cultural  and  utilitarian  in 
character,  for  what  is  truly  the  latter  must  perforce  be 
the  former,  and  the  everyday  life  of  the  individual  is 
influenced  more  than  he  can  say  by  true  art,  whenever  and 
however  it  may  appear. 

How  great  an  effect  the  aesthetic  has  upon  the  utilitarian 
side  perhaps  cannot  be  told.  "No  people  is  intellectually 
independent  until  it  has  a  language  and  a  literature,  all 
its  own." 1  Just  as  the  language  of  a  people,  both  spoken 
and  written,  furnishes  the  key  to  its  future  development, 
so  in  a  lesser  degree  and  perhaps  in  a  more  fundamental 
sense  the  aesthetic  element  performs  the  same  function.  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  a  people  is  intellectually  inde- 
pendent only  when  it  has  an  art,  that  is,  an  appreciation 
of  art — an  appreciation  so  keen  that  the  moral,  intellec- 
tual, and  commercial  life  is  advantaged  thereby. 

Art  that  is  capable  of  making  its  appeal  through 
utility  will  be  appreciated;  whenever  it  is  accepted  as 
having  value  from  the  utilitarian  side  it  will  make  its 
appeal  to  culture.  True  appreciation  is  not  simply  a 
matter  of  development,  of  evolution,  of  education, 
although  the  more  complete  the  knowledge  the  more 

1  Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  Introduction  to  Chubb's  The  Teach- 
ing of  English  p.  xix. 


52  Ideals   and   Democracy 

perfect  the  ideal.  The  beautiful  may  be  appreciated  at 
once.  This  may  perhaps  be  stating  in  another  way  that 
only  the  real  is  be?.utiful;  hence  true  art  can  always  be 
appreciated. 

"Our  knowledge  is  a  torch  of  smoky  pine, 
That  lights  the  path  one  little  step  ahead 
Across  a  void  of  mystery  and  dread. 

Teach,  then,  the  inward  light  of  faith  to  shine, 
Whereby  alone  the  mortal  heart  is  led 

Unto  the  thinking  of  the  thought  divine." 

The  truly  aesthetic,  therefore,  cannot  exist  aside  and 
apart  from  the  useful.  This  implies  that  all  useful  things 
are  beautiful,  although  there  are  degrees  both 
of  utility  and  of  beauty.  But  of  two  things 
otherwise  equally  good,  the  more  beautiful 
will  serve  its  purpose  the  better.  The  crude  clay  water 
jug  of  the  primitive  savage,  fashioned  around  a  basket 
of  woven  rushes,  was  indeed  an  article  of  use,  and  not 
without  artistic  merit.  The  delicately  fashioned  vase  of 
the  Greek,  designed  for  exactly  the  same  purpose  and  with 
a  capacity  equal  to  that  of  the  clay  jug,  but  combin- 
ing symmetry  and  perfect  lines,  was  by  far  the  better 
piece  of  work  from  a  utilitarian  point  of  view.  The 
water  jug  is  forgotten  by  all  save  the  archaeologist,  but  the 
vase  form  is  used  to-day  as  it  has  been  used  through  all 
the  centuries  past.  Because  it  pleases  the  eye,  its  mar- 
ket value  is  greater  than  that  of  the  other;  it  will  be  used 
as  a  model  while  the  other  will  not;  it  will  have  an  effect 
upon  the  life  of  the  individual  that  the  other  cannot 
have — an  effect  beneficial  from  both  mental  and  mate- 
rial standpoints. 

"There  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  another  giory  of  the 
moon,  and  another  glory  of  the  stars";  there  is  likewise 
an  art  of  strength,  an  art  of  simplicity,  an  art  of  line,  form, 


The  Classics  of  Industrialism          53 

and  color,  and  all  combine  in  use,  which  is  the  art  itself. 

In  generations  past,  before  the  power  of  the  dollar  had 
begun  to  assert  itself  in  such  definite  and  far-reaching 
terms  as  is  the  case  to-day;  when  time  was  less  of  the 
vital  element  it  is  at  present,  and  before  division  of  labor 
had  been  carried  to  its  apparently  extreme  limit,  but 
withal,  a  limit  that  is  constantly  expanding  as  a  rubber 
band  may  be  stretched,  there  was  a  day  when  art  and 
industry  were  blended  and  shaped  together  in  the  work 
of  the  people.  -.  At  the  base  of  utility  were  stability  and 
beauty.  The  builder  in  wood  was  the  artistic  builder,  and 
his  product  was  to  endure  not  for  a  day  but  for  time. 
The  mason  kept  in  mind  both  his  building  and  its  beauty. 
The  worker  in  iron  constructed  on  lines  not  only  of  strength 
but  of  satisfaction.  The  architect,  the  mechanic,  and  the 
artist  were  often  one  and  the  same.  There  was  a  unity, 
a  oneness,  throughout  the  work,  and  that  which  at  the 
moment  could  not  reach  completion  was  not  outraged 
by  hasty  or  careless  workmanship.  The  worth  of  the 
structure  was  to  be  determined  by  the  test  of  time,  the 
relation  of  function  to  fitness,  and  the  effect  produced 
upon  the  eye  and  mind.  To  meet  this  test,  thought  and 
intelligence,  care  and  patience,  honest  and  artistic  work, 
beautiful  ideals  and  strong  realities,  in  fact,  the  very 
lives  and  purposes  of  men,  were  built  into  the  structure 
as  builders  lay  stones,  one  upon  the  other. 

And  so  whether  in  the  cathedral,  the  shop  door,  the  road, 
the  wall,  the  piece  of  furniture,  the  picture,  the  implement, 
the  book,  the  fireplace,  the  silver  for  the  table— each 
building,  each  separate  piece,  decoration,  or  utensil,  was 
made  to  use,  to  beautify,  and  to  endure. 

To-day  all  is  different,  although  the  tide  has  set  again 
toward  the  better  conception.  Division  of  labor  and 
specialization  are  now  so  far-reaching  that  ten,  twenty, 


54  Ideals   and   Democracy 

sixty  men  divide  among  them  the  processes  formerly 
carried  on  by  one  or  two.  A  workman  knows  little  and 
frequently  cares  less  about  details  of  processes 
machines  outside  his  own  narrow  field.  He  is  a  human 
machine,  working  automatically,  his  business 
to  turn  out  the  largest  amount  of  work  in  the  shortest 
possible  time.  He  need  have  no  care  for  artistic  merit 
or  pleasing  quality.  Development  in  the  world  of  science 
is  so  rapid  to-day,  and  new  and  improved  methods  in  the 
arts  and  industries  so  soon  displace  former  practices,  that 
stability  is  given  less  consideration  than  would  otherwise 
be  the  case.  The  truly  artistic  cannot  exist  apart  from 
stability. 

A  great  metropolitan  daily1  recently  used  the  following 
language  in  commenting  upon  labor  conditions : 

"Over  at  the  town  eating-house  I  sat  alongside  two 
young  mechanics  in  their  shirt  sleeves.  They  were 
engaged  in  a  most  interesting  discussion. 

"One  was  arguing  that  German  mechanics  are  superior 
to  Americans,  and  the  other  was  opposing  his  views. 

"'My  old  man  is  a  Dutchman,'  said  the  first  young 
fellow.  '  He  is  a  mechanic  and  I  am  a  mechanic.  I  can 
do  good  work  and  get  good  wages  in  the  shop — but, 
pshaw,  what  do  I  know  about  mechanics  ? 

1  'With  the  help  of  a  machine,  I  can  make  just  one 
part  of  one  machine.  My  old  man  could  go  cut  down  a 
tree  and  take  a  bar  of  steel  and  make  the  whole  thing 
from  the  raw  state  to  the  finished  product. 

' '  If  we  studied  our  trades  like  my  old  man  studied 
his,  there  would  be  no  trouble  about  wages  and  about 
machinery.' " 

There  is  a  deal  of  philosophy  in  the  utterance  of  the 
young  mechanic.  While  not  a  purist,  he  grasps  in  a 

i  The  Times,  Los  Angeles,  California. 


The   Classics   of  Industrialism          55 

wholesome  way  the  distinction  between  the  conditions 
of  to-day  and  those  of  the  generations  past. 

The  whole  argument  being  presented  is  that  our  day  and 
generation  have  developed  such  tremendous  industrial 
and  commercial  problems,  such  lines  of  special  A  * 
interest,  that  art  and  industry  have  become  industry 
almost  hopelessly  divorced;  and  while  these  divorced 
lines  of  progress  are  to  be  welcomed  and  accepted,  a  right 
and  happy  adjustment  of  the  pleasing  and  the  profitable 
must  somehow  be  brought  about.  The  time  has  come 
to  cease  considering  "art  for  art's  sake."  The  day  is 
past,  if  this  country  is  to  develop  ideals  and  live  up 
to  them,  when  a  basis  for  governmental  policies,  moral 
life,  and  educational  growth  is  to  be  found  in  a  sordid 
commercialism.  Art  and  industry  must  work  hand  in 
hand.  The  artistic  workman  must  take  his  place  side 
by  side  with  the  technical  workman;  the  artistic  and 
technical  elements  must  be  developed  in  every  man  who 
plans  and  builds. 

"Much  has  been  said  in  times  past  about  art  for 
art's  sake,  science  for  the  sake  of  science,  and  knowledge 
for  the  sake  of  knowledge,"  says  McMurry.1 
"But  these  are  vague  expressions  that  will 
excite  little  interest  so  long  as  the  worth  of  a  man  is 
determined  by  what  comes  out  of  him,  by  the  service 
he  renders,  rather  than  by  what  enters  in.  Other 
branches  of  knowledge  used  for  educative  purposes,  there- 
fore, resemble  the  useful  arts  in  the  recognition  of  their 
bearings  on  man,  their  actual  use  as  the  goal  in  their 
study.". .-  A  pleasing  unity  of  art  and  industry,  of  beauty 
and  utility,  and  all  making  for  stability,  is  the  goal  toward 
which  we  should  strive. 

Beauty  in  form,  in  color,  in  musical  note,  reached  a 

1  How  to  Study  and  Teaching  How  to  Study,  p.  198. 


50  Ideals   and   Democracy 

high  standard  of  perfection  in  the  life  of  the  old  Greek 
and  Egyptian;    in  fact,  with  all  the  boasted  superiority 

of  our  present-day  civilization  we  have  never 
Industrial  excelled  the  Greek  in  fa  pOwer  to  depict 

line  and  form  or  the  Egyptian  in  his  ability 
to  produce  abstract  color.  Music,  painting,  and  sculp- 
ture have,  however,  until  a  recent  day,  been  conceded 
to  comprehend  the  fine  arts.  When  architecture  became 
an  art,  then  in  a  measure  was  the  utilitarian  view  con- 
sidered. It  remained  for  the  applied  arts,  or  the  so-called 
industrial  arts,  to  clearly  point  the  way  of  the  relation 
of  art  to  utility. 

We  have  had  pictured  to  us  the  master  Michelangelo, 
as  he  toiled  day  after  day  and  month  by  month  until  the 
Sistine  Chapel  was  complete,  a  marvel  to  all  the  world 
and  a  monument  to  the  creative  powers  of  the  man;  we 
have  stood  silent  before  the  incomparable  Madonna  of 
Raphael,  being  drawn  again  and  again  to  view,  with 
reverence  and  wonder,  this  picture;  the  chisel  of  Phidias 
has  left  its  impress  upon  the  lives  of  a  multitude;  the 
majestic  lines  of  Schiller  and  Goethe,  of  Emerson  and 
Shakspere,  the  music  of  Wagner  and  Beethoven,  and  the 
sentences  of  Chatham  and  Webster  are  as  fresh  and 
inspiring  to-day  as  they  were  in  the  times  of  our  fathers; 
the  Cologne  Cathedral,  which  for  nine  centuries  saw 
progress  year  by  year  and  from  reign  to  reign,  reminds  us 
of  those  who  planned  and  placed  and  trued.  And  in  the 
effects  upon  our  lives  of  this  contact  and  this  experience, 
the  least  is  by  no  means  utilitarian  in  character. 

However,  art  has  begun  to  assume  a  broader  aspect 
than  that  symbolized  by  the  brush  and  chisel  only. 
"Men  fight  to  lose  the  battle,"  says  William  Morris, 
"and  the  thing  that  they  fought  for  comes  about  in  spite 
ef  their  defeat,  and  when  it  comes  turns  out  to  be  not 


The  Classics   of  Industrialism          57 

what  they  meant,  and  other  men  have  to  fight  for  what 
they  meant  under  another  name." 

From  the  time  of  William  Morris  and  John  Ruskin  the 
beauty  of  utility  has  been  more  and  more  emphasized, 
and  to-day  the  term  "art"  may  be  applied  to  work  in 
silver  or  gold,  iron  or  copper;  to  wood,  glass,  leather,  or 
paper.  A  book  or  mantelpiece,  a  city  street  or  a  shop 
window  may  as  clearly  embody  the  art  spirit  as  a  painting 
or  a  statue.  Looked  at  from  this  viewpoint  it  is  easy  to 
see  how  art  may  have  a  distinctly  utilitarian'trend. 

It  may  safely  be  said,  therefore,  that  use  is  a  determin- 
ing factor  in  beauty,  and  that  construction  and  decoration 
are  its  two  fundamentals. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  moral  effect  as  being  different  and 
apart  from  the  utilitarian.  But  this  is  impossible.  Let 
me  illustrate.  I  once  taught  a  group  of  boys  The  influence 
in  Henry  Street.  Those  of  you  who  live  in  of  art  on 
New  York  City  and  have  undertaken  to 
learn  at  first  hand  how  the  other  half  live  need  not  be  told 
the  location  of  Henry  Street.  The  filth  and  poverty  and 
disappointment  of  the  East  Side  are  resident  in  this 
locality;  the  pathetic  and  downcast  mingle  here  with  the 
gay  and  the  boisterous;  confidence  and  suspicion  watch 
from  opposite  street  corners.  But  with  scant  means, 
meager  homes,  and  an  unhappy  environment  there  is  a 
growing  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  and  an  increased 
understanding  of  how  to  construct  useful  and  beautiful 
things.  On  climbing  to  the  attic  of  a  Henry  Street  build- 
ing and  entering  a  small  room  occupied  by  two  young 
men  who  were  working  with  the  boys  of  the  district,  one 
of  the  silent  causes  of  this  appreciation  was  apparent. 
On  the  walls  were  prints  of  the  masters,  simply  framed; 
bookshelves  cheaply  and  serviceably  made,  and  some 
home-bound  magazines  and  books;  pieces  of  furniture 


5#  Ideals   and   Democracy 

made  by  the  young  men,  and  scattered  here  and  there 
small  articles  of  use  so  simply  and  honestly  constructed 
as  to  be  within  the  ability  and  reach  of  all.  This  delight- 
ful place  the  boys  used  to  visit,  and  from  it  radiated  such 
an  atmosphere  of  real  art  that  they  carried  with  them  a 
feeling  for  the  useful  and  beautiful,  and  the  moral  as  well. 
Broadly  speaking,  that  which  appeals  to  the  mass,  and 
continues  to  appeal  to  it,  possesses  the  elements  of  utility. 
The  superficial  and  shallow  will  endure  for  a  day;  that 
which  is  fine  and  true  is  lasting.  In  Germany  the  rich 
and  the  poor,  the  young  and  the  old,  the  workman,  student, 
and  merchant,  sit  side  by  side  at  a  Wagnerian  production ; 
all  are  interested,  uplifted,  instructed.  No  man  has  a 
"corner"  on  the  appreciation  of  such  music.  It  appeals 
to  the  average  man,  as  does  real  literature  and  true  art. 

"  The  average  man  is  the  man  of  the  mill, 
The  man  of  the  valley,  the  man  of  the  hill; 
The  man  at  the  throttle,  the  man  at  the  plow, 
The  man  with  the  sweat  of  his  toil  on  his  brow. 
Who  brings  into  being  the  dreams  of  the  few, 
Who  works  for  himself,  and  for  me  and  for  you. 
There  is  not  a  purpose,  a  project,  or  plan, 
But  rests  on  the  strength  of  the  average  man. 

11  The  man  who,  perchance,  thinks  he  labors  alone, 
The  man  who  stands  out  between  hovel  and  throne; 
The  man  who  gives  freely  his  brain  and  his  brawn 
Is  the  man  that  the  world  has  been  builded  upon. 
The  clang  of  the  hammer,  the  sweep  of  the  saw, 
The  flash  of  the  forge, —  they  have  strengthened  the  law; 
They  have  rebuilt  the  realm  that  the  wars  overran, 
They  have  shown  us  the  worth  of  the  average  man." 

It  is  only  that  education  which  has  a  relation  to  life, 
day  by  day,  that  can  be  considered  true  education.  The 
art  that  does  not  appeal  to  everyday  existence  is  not  the 
true  art,  although  that  which  at  first  glance  seems  useless 


The   Classics  of  Industrialism          59 

and  theoretical  may  prove  to  be  of  the  greatest  material 
use.  "We  live  on  the  electricity  in  the  air  much  more 
than  we  do  on  the  food  we  put  into  our  mouths  "  is  another 
way  of  expressing  the  truth  that  the  unseen  forces  are 
sometimes  of  the  greatest  utilitarian  value. 

The  American  way  is  the  quick  way,  the  machine  way. 
Quantity  counts  and  character,  whether  reckoned  in 
terms  of  man's  worth  or  of  artistic  merit,  The 

is  too  little  thought  of.  I  have  observed  American 
the  hundreds  of  girls  and  boys  in  one  of  the 
large  factories  of  an  eastern  city  as  they  carried  on  the 
various  processes  of  lead-pencil  making.  Each  had  his 
own  part  to  perform,  and  the  hands  moved  so  rapidly  as 
to  tax  one  in  following  as  it  would  to  follow  the  fortunes 
of  a  moving  picture.  On  observing  a  similar  group  of 
young  people  in  a  large  pen  factory  in  the  English  city 
of  Birmingham,  the  contrast  between  the  American  and 
English  temperaments  was  clearly  disclosed.  The  move- 
ments of  the  latter  were  studied,  deliberate,  with  time 
enough  and  to  spare.  On  the  one  hand  was  an  exposition 
of  the  "simple  life,"  with  thought  and  physical  growth 
possible;  on  the  other,  the  expenditure  of  nervous  en- 
ergy such  as  produces  invalids  in  adolescence. 

Now  modern  methods  or  scientific  processes  in  the 
industries  do  not  always  imply  a  turning  from  the  artis- 
tic and  soul-satisfying.  But  as  we  emphasize  ^^  ^ 
the  value  of  quantity  in  production,  as  we  ceases 

make  for  to-day  rather  than  for  to-morrow, 
as  we  of  the  schools  educate  one  class  to  the  value  of 
technique  and  another  to  the  beauty  of  line  and  tone  and 
harmonious  blending  of  parts,  we  tend  to  cut  the  cords 
that  should  bind  industry  to  art.  We  make  of  art  a 
thing  of  and  by  itself —at  which  point  true  art  ceases—- 
and emphasize  an  industry  designed  simply  to  make 


60  Ideals   and   Democracy 

existence  possible,  trade  brisk,  and  money,  for  its  own 
sake,  more  to  be  desired  than  before. 

A   real   education  implies  an  education  for  ah;    an 
individual  education — in  whatever  it  may  consist — for 

the  individual  man.  The  classics  of  indus- 
befterthlnes  trialism  must  appeal  to  all,  and  to  accomplish 

this  the  aesthetic  must  be  bound  up  with  the 
industries  in  all  the  activities  in  which  all  are  more  or 
less  intimately  interested.  Day  by  day,  hour  by  hour, 
this  appeal  must  be  made,  as  it  is  constant  dropping  that 
wears  the  stone.  With  the  elements  of  beauty  and  of 
utility  combined ;  with  workmen  trained  to  glorify  indus- 
try through  pleasing  form  and  to  magnify  beauty  through 
industrial  processes  and  splended  technique;  with  the 
dawning  of  this  day  of  better  things  will  dawn  also  the 
day  when  labor  shall  be  dignified  and  the  master  and 
the  workmen  shall  be  fellow  builders,  working  toward 
the  same  goal  in  the  same  school  of  service. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  LIBRARY  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL 
FACTOR 

MORE  than  three  quarters  of  a  century  ago  the  first 
real  apostle  of  popular  education  in  this  country 
wrote  in  his  journal:  "The  people  who  speak  to  me 
on  the  subject  of  my  Secretaryship  seem  to  think  that 
there  is  more  dignity  or  honor  or  something  in  being 
President  of  the  Senate,  than  to  be  Missionary  of  Popular 
Education.  If  tthe  Lord  will  prosper  me  for  ten  years,  I 
will  show  them  what  way  the  balance  of  honor  lies. 
But  this  is  not  a  matter  to  be  done  sleeping."1  And 
over  seventy  years  later  a  great  soul  said:  "How  do  I 
know  that  life  is  worth  living  unless  I  learn  that  some- 
body else  has  found  it  so?  Where  shall  I  find  that? 
In  a  book!  How  shall  I  know  that  victories  are  to  be 
won  unless  I  find  the  records  in  books?  Men  and  women 
who  have  been  successful  in  life  are  telling  us  of  this  on 
the  printed  pages.  This  is  uplifting.  A  book  is  nothing 
but  an  individual.  If  you  sit  down  with  one  of  HowelTs 
books  you  sit  down  with  Howell.  If  you  have  a  public 
library  you  have  the  best  men  and  women  of  the  world 
as  neighbors."2 

Horace  Mann  was  prospered  for  his  ten  years.  His 
work  as  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  Massa- 
chusetts laid  the  foundation  of  the  most  far-reaching 
reforms  in  school  administration  that  our  country  had 

1  Horace  Mann's  Journal.     See  Hubbell,  Horace  Mann,  p.  Si. 

2  Canfield,  "The  Library's  Part  in  Education,"  Public  Libraries, 

14:   I2O,  1909. 

61 


62  Ideals  and  Democracy 

experienced  to  the  sunset  of  the  last  century.  And 
James  H.  Canfield,  as  teacher,  librarian,  and  man, 
performed  a  work  in  stimulating  the  individual  and 
community  mind  for  good  books  that  rises  to-day  his 
monument. 

The  library  is  or  should  be  one  of  the  most  vital  of 
educational  factors.  Says  Draper:  "The  state  which  can 
put  a  mark  upon  its  map  wherever  there  is  a  town  or 
village  library,  and  find  its  map  well  covered,  will  take 
care  of  itself."1  "Many  an  end  really  within  the  indi- 
vidual's reach  is  never  grasped  simply  because  it  is  con- 
cealed by  the  screen  of  ignorance;  and  many  a  man  in 
later  years  can,  with  bitter,  unavailing  regret,  see  clearly 
how  his  whole  career  might  have  been  different  if  only 
this  end  or  that  had  been  brought  within  his  ken  by  the 
written  or  the  spoken  word."2 

The  school  and  the  library  are  parts  of  one  ard  the 

same  great  organic  institution.    Whether  housed  in  the 

school  building  or  in  a  separate  structure  on 

The  library  «  .  .  ,,. 

an  intrinsic  the  school  grounds,  or  in  a  public  building, 


part  of  managed  by  a  special  board  and  financed  by 
the  school  .  .  J  .  V?  ,. 

the  municipality,  the  library  is  essentially  part 

and  parcel  of  the  educational  scheme.  The  books  of  the 
library  are  as  much  a  part  of  the  school  machinery  as 
are  the  various  pieces  of  apparatus  in  the  physical  labor- 
atory, the  biological  specimens,  the  collections  used  in 
the  study  of  mineralogy,  or  the  tools  and  materials  in 
the  craft  shop  or  the  school  kitchen.  To  think  of  the 
library  as  apart  from  education,  and  as  simply  a  desirable 
aid  to  the  school,  is  to  place  it  in  the  amusement  column. 
Many  libraries,  and  the  major  portion  of  most,  judged  by 
the  books  on  their  shelves,  belong  with  the  theater  and 

i  American  Education,  p.  46. 

5  MacCunn,  The  Making  of  Character,  p.  193. 


The  Library  as  an  Educational  Factor    63 

the  summer  resort.  A  collection  of  books  meeting  this 
requirement  merely  is  not  a  library.  We  must  of  course 
have  a  care  for  relative  values  and  give  full  consideration 
to  the  legitimate  place  the  library  plays  as  a  means  of 
entertainment  and  recreation.1  "After  the  church  and 
the  school,  the  free  library  is  the  most  effective  influence 
for  good  in  America,"  said  Theodore  Roosevelt.  This 
is  stating  in  another  form  that  the  church,  the  school, 
and  the  library  are  three  of  the  elements  without  which 
any  educational  organization  is  less  than  perfect. 

It  has  been  said  frequently,  and  with  truth,  that  with 
building  and  equipment  and  playground  and  library 
facilities,  and  all  that  goes  to  constitute  the 
material  and  physical  side  of  a  modern  school, 
the  plant  would  prove  inadequate  to  meet 
the  demands  imposed  unless  the  teacher  of  purpose  and 
of  power  was  the  guiding  genius  of  the  whole.  Person- 
ality in  the  teacher  counts  for  more  than  all  else  on  the 
success  side  of  the  balance  sheet.  So  is  it  with  your 
librarian.  Before  building  or  equipment  or  books,  the 
librarian  stands  supreme.  The  librarian  is  the  center 
of  the  system,  and  all  else  depends  upon  her. 

For  what  constitutes  a  library?  A  beautiful  building 
constructed  by  private  funds  or  public  bond  issue  and 
raised  amid  charming  surroundings  of  lawn  and  lake  and 
grove?  Furniture  and  equipment  of  the  most  modern 
type?  A  large  collection  of  books?  Too  often  this  is 
indeed  the  library.  It  is  a  show  place.  It  constitutes 
"Exhibit  A"  when  visitors  are  taken  proudly  about 
town  on  a  tour  of  inspection.  But  what  of  the  librarian? 
Do  her  townspeople,  her  friends  and  associates,  realize 
the  part  she  is  daily  called  upon  to  play  in  shaping  the 

iJewett,"The  Public  Library  and  the  Public  School,"  Public 
Libraries,  14:  119,  1909. 


<fy  Ideals   and   Democracy 

ideas  and  ideals  of  the  community?  A  man  or  woman  of 
personality,  of  tact,  trained  in  library  lore  and  possessing 
a  knowledge  of  books,  of  teaching,  and  particularly  of 
individuals  —  such  will  be  the  librarian  in  fact.  And  a 
humble  structure  housing  a  handful  of  well-selected  vol- 
umes may  be  the  library  of  real  educational  value  in  any 
community. 

"There  is,  undoubtedly,  a  certain  benefit  to  the  growth 
of  the  civic  spirit  in  a  small  town,  in  the  presence  of  a 
beautiful,  dignified  library  building,  and  where  it  can 
be  maintained  without  detriment  to  the  real  service  of 
books,  it  is  the  fulfillment  of  a  commendable  ambition 
to  have  such  a  building.  But,  oftentimes  the  library 
service  would  be  stronger  in  rented  quarters,  appropri- 
ately and  adequately  equipped,  with  a  sufficient  collec- 
tion of  books,  a  sympathetic,  up-to-date  librarian  in 
charge  to  make  known  the  contents  of  the  library  to  the 
community."1  By  all  means  have  the  beautiful  build- 
ing where  possible.  But  ambition  to  possess  "the  best 
library  building  in  the  state";  to  be  able  to  furnish,  on 
the  initial  request,  the  novel  fresh  from  the  press;  or  to 
show  in  the  annual  report  an  unparalleled  percentage  of 
increase  in  stock — these  are  not  necessarily  commendable 
ambitions  either  on  the  part  of  librarian  or  board.  The 
vital  questions  are:  Has  the  individual  been  reading? 
What  does  he  read,  and  how?  Is  taste  developing?  Is 
there  an  increased  demand  for  the  best  in  history  and  biog- 
raphy and  science  and  poetry  and  travel  and  art?  Are 
books  read,  or  do  patrons  go  through  the  library  as  the 
average  tourist  visits  an  art  gallery  or  "sees  Europe"? 

All  librarians  must  be  teachers  in  spirit  and  tempera- 
ment, and  all  teachers  must  understand  how  to  work  with 

i  "Buildings  are  not  Libraries,"  editorial  in  Public  Libraries, 
14:  56,  1909. 


The  Library  as  an  Educational  Factor    65 

books.  Some  'one  has  truly  said,  in  speaking  of  the  un- 
trained, that  "  you  should  not  put  drugs  of  which  you 
know  nothing  into  a  body  of  which  you  know 

less."  The  individual  who  understands  books  The librtarian 

as  a  teacher 
slightly,  and  boys  and  girls  not  at  all,  cannot 

be  expected  to  make  either  a  good  librarian  or  an  excel- 
lent teacher.  It  is  then  not  only  necessary  to  train 
librarians  for  their  profession,  but  all  normal  and  train- 
ing schools  must  offer  to  prospective  teachers  courses 
of  instruction  in  the  use  of  the  library.  This  suggestion 
has  in  it  no  element  of  originality.  Already  many  schools 
are  attempting  this  work.  This  is  a  matter  that  must  be 
worked  out  jointly  by  librarian  and  teacher,  the  training 
and  experience  of  the  librarian  being  a  positive  force. 

The  replies  to  a  recent  inquiry  as  to  library  instruction 
in  normal  schools  show  that  of  thirty-two  schools  reply- 
ing (representing  eighteen  states)  twenty  Courses  in 
schools  offer  instruction  in  the  use  of  the  normal 

library.  Four  schools  offer  no  instruction 
whatever;  one  replies,  "Yes  and  no";  in  one  school 
occasional  instruction  is  given;  in  one,  instruction  is 
incidental;  in  two,  there  is  individual  instruction,  and 
in  three,  courses  are  in  contemplation.  The  number  of 
lessons  per  year  ranges  from  one,  two,  or  four  in  several 
schools  to  sixty  in  one  school.  Between  these  limits 
one  school  offers  ten  to  eighteen  lessons,  three  give  eight- 
een to  twenty,  one  school  thirty.  In  only  twelve  schools 
is  the  work  obligatory,  and  in  all  but  three  of  these  the 
instruction  is  given  by  the  librarian.  Where  library 
work  is  optional,  either  the  librarian  or  a  faculty  member 
gives  the  instruction.1 

i  "  Library  Instruction  in  Normal  Schools:  Results  of  replies  to 
a  circular  sent  out  from  Newark,  N.  J.,  public  library."  Public 
Libraries,  14;  147,  1909. 


66  Ideals  and   Democracy 

While  extremely  suggestive  as  indicating  the  trend  of 
affairs,  it  is  quite  evident  that  as  yet  few  school  boards, 
superintendents,  principals,  teachers,  parents,  or  libra- 
rians have  seriously  considered  the  necessity  of  preparing 
all  our  teachers  in  the  elements  of  library  work.  Such 
work  in  normal  schools  and  education  departments  in 
colleges  must  be  obligatory,  for  regardless  of  grade  or 
type  of  school,  and  in  whatever  subject,  the  teacher  must 
handle  books.  And  no  student  should  graduate  from 
such  a  school  until  he  or  she  is  proficient  in  the  elements 
of  library  administration.  This  knowledge  is  of  greater 
importance  than  much  else  the  student  is  required  to 
know.  If  programs  are  now  overfull,  room  must  be  made 
through  the  process  of  elimination ;  for  library  work  is  not 
a  subject,  as  is  mathematics  or  Latin.  "It  is  a  method 
of  work."  Without  it  no  work  can  be  effective.  9  We 
have  thus  to  consider  what  should  be  taught  to  teachers 
in  training.  Since  this  depends  upon  what  pupils  should 
be  required  to  know  that  they  may  use  the  library  under- 
standingly,  we  must  here  speak  of  library  administration 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  school. 

One  has  but  to  study  conditions  as  they  exist,  whether 
in  the  public  library  or  the  school  library,  to  note  that 
adults,  not  to  speak  of  boys  and  girls,  are  practically  at 
sea  when  making  investigations.  In  a  general  way  the 
location  of  certain  books  may  be  known.  How  to  find 
books  on  a  particular  subject  new  to  one;  how  to  locate 
material  bearing  upon  the  text  in  use;  how  to  find  par- 
allel studies,  or  substitutes,  provided  the  required  book  is 
missing;  how  to  separate  the  wheat  from  the  chaff,  and 
gather  up  the  main  points  in  a  discussion;  how  to  study 
to  the  best  advantage  —  in  fact,  how  to  use  the  library. 
On  these  matters  the  average  boy  or  girl,  man  or  woman, 
is  comparatively  ignorant.  Many  well-meaning  students 


The  Library  as  an  Educational  Factor    67 

spend  more  time  in  groping  through  the  library  in  a 
fruitless  search  than  they  give  to  reading,  and  many  a  one 
remains  away  from  the  library  altogether,  when  now  and 
again  he  finds  a  few  moments  for  study,  knowing  that 
only  a  prolonged  search  will  reveal  the  desired  material. 
And  with  book  in  hand  how  few  know  how  to  use  it. 
Surely  you  have  all  had  occasion  to  wish  that  the  school 
taught  [pupils  in  the  art  of  study.  I  sat  ignorance 
recently  in  the  library  of  a  great  university  of  how 
observing  a  number  of  young  people,  the  to  study 
product  of  our  high  schools,  as  they  pursued  their  studies. 
In  the  make-up  of  most  of  them  the  art  of  concentration 
seemed  entirely  lacking.  Pages  were  turned  listlessly, 
notes  were  made,  passages  were  read  and  re-read,  posi- 
tions were  shifted.  Only  for  the  briefest  periods  were 
minds  centered  upon  the  subject  in  hand.  Five  minutes 
of  concentrated,  consecutive,  understanding  study  will 
bring  better  results  than  will  prolonged  reaches  of  time 
given  under  such  conditions.  And  these  college  people, 
well  meaning  and  ordinarily  bright  and  intelligent,  are 
typical  of  those  found  the  country  over.  Conditions 
with  high-school  and  grade  pupils  are  even  worse.  Not 
interested,  you  say.  They  simply  do  not  know  how  to 
use  books.  Is  it  then  the  duty  of  the  teacher  and  the 
librarian  to  first  instruct  readers  in  this  art,  or  is  the  time 
to  be  given  to  the  mechanics  of  school  keeping  and  to 
library  routine?  Welcome  the  time  when  with  Elizabeth 
Barrett  Browning 

"We  gloriously  forget  ourselves  and  plunge 
Soul  forward,  headlong,  into  a  book  profound, 
Impassioned  for  its  beauty  and  salt  of  truth — 
Tis  then  we  get  the  right  good  from  a  book."  1 

Every  well-regulated  school  of  several  teachers  should 
1  Aurora  Leigh. 


68  I  dials   and   Democracy 

have  a  carefully  selected  list  of  books  and  a  librarian  to 
preside  over  them.  This  librarian  should  be  a  member 
of  the  faculty.  Every  public  librarian  should  possess  the 
Library  used  mstmcts  °f  tne  true  teacher.  Much  of  the 
at  opening  pupil's  time  during  the  first  days  of  school, 
of  term  particularly  in  the  last  two  years  of  the 

elementary  and  the  secondary  school  period,  should  be 
spent  in  the  library,  or  in  the  recitation  room  with  por- 
tions of  the  library  at  his  disposal.  Where  the  school 
is  without  a  librarian,  the  public  library  should  furnish 
a  demonstrator.  And  whatever  the  situation,  all  pupils 
should  report  in  the  public  library  for  instruction.  They 
should  be  taught  in  groups.  The  first  lesson  should 
acquaint  the  pupils  in  a  general  way  with  their  library 
home.  They  should  know  each  member  of  the  library 
staff,  should  visit  every  room,  and  be  told  something  of 

The  elements  ^e  un^ts  composing  the  entire  plant.  They 
of  library  should  know  how  a  book  is  ordered,  how 
shipped,  what  happens  when  it  reaches  the 
receiving  room,  how  it  is  classified,  catalogued,  and 
shelved.  In  the  beginning,  specific  books  need  not  be 
mentioned,  but  those  covering  the  general  subjects  in 
which  the  particular  class  is  most  interested  may  be 
located.  Subjects  overlap,  and  a  given  book  may  touch 
upon  a  variety  of  subjects  while  another  may  deal  dis- 
tinctly with  a  narrow  phase  of  one  subject.  This  the 
pupils  should  understand,  and  thus  they  may  more 
readily  appreciate  the  basis  of  classification  of  books. 
The  main  features  of  the  use  of  the  card  catalogue  may 
be  illustrated,  together  with  the  value  of  the  subject, 
author,  and  title  index  and  how  to  use  the  cross-references. 
All  of  this,  in  simplified  fashion,  can  be  given  to  a  class 
in  one  or  two  lessons.  And  together  with  the  instruc- 
tion on  the  use  of  the  library  there  can  be  given,  here 


The  Library  as  an  Educational  Factor    69 

and  there,  hints  on  authorship,  the  value  of  good  books, 
methods  of  opening  and  handling  new  volumes,  the  place 
of  real  literature  and  of  books  as  friends.  All  this  will 
stimulate  the  class  to  a  better  care  of  books  and  an 
increased  desire  to  begin  a  collection  that  shall  develop 
into  a  library. 

As  opportunity  offers,  specific  details  should  be  pre- 
sented. Many  high-school  pupils  and  most  children 
believe  their  textbooks  contain  practically  all  Textbooks 
the  information  available  on  a  given  topic.  supple- 
Many  otherwise  excellent  teachers  believe  Dented 
that  they  need  not  go  outside  the  prescribed  textbook 
for  teaching  material.  When  failing  to  find  a  particular 
reference,  the  boy  or  girl  does  not  know  how  to  locate 
other  references  perhaps  just  as  good;  may  not  even 
know  there  are  other  references  in  existence.  Or,  having 
a  subject  to  investigate,  the  student  may  have  forgotten 
the  name  of  the  author  cited  to  him;  he  may  know  the 
author,  and  cannot  recall  the  subject  or  the  title.  A  few 
minutes  spent  with  a  class,  working  on  a  typical  case, 
will  result  in  the  saving  of  hours  to  each  pupil  during  the 
year.  Nothing  will  tend  to  draw  young  people  to  the 
library  for  serious  work  as  will  a  knowledge  on  their  part 
of  how  to  use  the  tools. 

Continually  you  have  been  disappointed,  on  entering 
a  library  for  the  first  time,  in  a  search  for  a  particular 
item.  Being  familiar  with  the  number  of  the  pammarity 
book  wanted,  you  may  be  told  it  is  not  in  with  books 
unless  upon  the  shelf  where  it  properly 
belongs.  The  library  being  new  to  you,  and  your  time 
limited,  you  may  not  be  able  to  locate  the  shelf.  Or, 
putting  yourself  in  the  position  of  one  who  knows  nothing 
of  library  system,  you  cannot  locate  your  book  even 
though  you  have  time.  In  matters  of  this  kind  it  is  the 


jo  Ideals   and   Democracy 

survival  of  the  insistent.  The  timid  go  away  mentally 
starved. 

The  librarian  must  show  the  student  how  failure  to 

find  a  given  book  in  its  accustomed  place  is  no  guarantee 

it  is  missing    from  the  library.     The  book 

Why  time  asked  for  may  simply  be  misplaced,  but  the 
M  wasted  V 

pupil    may  not  realize  this;  or  he  may  be 

unable  to  trace  a  book  so  misplaced.  A  book  may  have 
been  returned  to  the  library  and  be  lying  upon  the  receiv- 
ing trucks,  or  it  may  be  reserved.  It  may  be  in  the 
bindery.  Just  because  these  matters  are  not  understood, 
and  because  of  young  and  old,  students  and  teachers,  few 
know  how  to  trace  a  subject  unless  they  are  in  possession 
of  all  the  data,  or  how  to  secure  a  substitute  for  a  book 
that  is  unavailable,  they  go  without.  Human  nature 
is  much  the  same  in  all  of  us,  and  what  we  speak 
of  as  "our  ignorance"  we  do  not  wish  to  exhibit.  We 
therefore  prowl  about  here  and  there.  We  thumb  this 
book  and  that,  make  a  pretense  at  interest,  and  finally 
take  ourselves  from  the  library  altogether,  thenceforward 
to  rest  content  with  the  dictionary  and  encyclopedia, 
which,  by  the  way,  we  think  we  know  how  to  use  but 
probably  do  not.  "The  fact  that  many  of  those  who 
frequent  public  libraries  are  inexperienced,  and  the  still 
more  obvious  fact  that  a  vast  number  of  people  who  do 
not  frequent  public  libraries,  stay  outside  because  they 
do  not  know  what  books  to  ask  for,  if  they  enter,  leave 
a  responsibility  with  the  libraries  and  committees  which 
they  cannot  escape."1 

Not  only  should  the  public  librarian  offer  instruction 
to  the  students  who  come  from  the  schools  but  many 
librarians  will,  if  called  upon,  be  ready  to  visit  the 

i  Hill,  "Responsibility  for  the  Public  Taste,"  Library,  New  Series 
7,  p.  260,  1906. 


The  Library  as  an  Educational  Factor    71 

schools,  and  there,  in  the  absence  of  a  trained  school 
librarian,  give  instruction  to  the  classes.  Classroom 

demonstrations  on  the  care  of  books,  open-       ™ 

,..  The  value  of 

mg  and  handling,  keeping  them  unsoiled  and  classroom 

sanitary,  on  the  meaning  of  title,  introduc-  instruction 
tion,  copyright,  and  dedication,  and  how  to  use  the  table 
of  contents  and  index  —  these  topics  can  be  made  of  in- 
terest and  value  to  the  pupils.  The  making  of  outlines, 
abstracts,  or  briefs  and  the  working  up  of  a  bibliography 
are  of  prime  importance  and  should  be  required  of  all  high- 
school  students.  The  librarian  should  seek  an  early 
opportunity  to  address  the  school  in  assembly.  Here 
can  be  brought  out  the  necessity  for  an  organic  unity 
between  library  and  school.  The  pupils  and  public  may 
be  made  to  understand  that  to  locate  and  hand  out  books 
is  the  least  important  part  of  the  librarian's  business. 
The  great  question  is:  What  will  the  library  do  if  the 
people  will  permit  it  to  do  it? 

As  books  of  reference  the  most  common,  the  dictionary 
and  the  encyclopedia,  are,  as  previously  hinted,  very 
little  understood  by  the  average  reader.  The  dictionary 
Practically  the  only  use  to  which  the  die-  not  used  un- 
tionary  is  put  is  to  give  the  proper  spelling  derstandlin&ly 
of  a  word,  syllabification,  and  in  all  too  few  cases,  where 
the  art  is  understood,  of  pronunciation.  The  length  of 
time  required  for  most  high-school  pupils  to  search  out 
a  given  word  is  appalling.  They  know  little  or  nothing 
of  how  to  ascertain  the  various  tones  or  shades  of  a  word; 
how  to  get  at  the  meaning  through  illustration  in  the 
context;  to  weigh  the  various  forms  of  usage;  to  search 
for  synonyms  or  derivations.  For  the  one  who  knows 
how  to  use  it  to  the  best  advantage  there  is  more  real 
information  in  the  commonplace  dictionary  than  comes 
to  the  ordinary  reader  from  an  armful  of  volumes.  It 


J2  Ideals   and   Democracy 

can  be  easily  understood  how  the  Bible,  Pilgrim's  Progress, 
and  the  dictionary  laid  the  foundation  for  a  liberal  edu- 
cation in  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  particular  field  and  function  of  reference  books 
should  be  pointed  out,  and  here  again  librarians  and 

The  use  of  teac^ers  must  wor^  together.  For  just  as 
ordinary  few  teachers  know  how  to  use  the  cumulative 
i^ex,  tne  readers'  guide  to  periodical  litera- 
ture, or  have  the  courage  to  work  over  public 
documents  or  state  papers,  so  there  is  lost  to  them  much 
of  the  wealth  contained  in  manuals,  yearbooks,  almanacs, 
hand-books  of  dates,  facts,  and  quotations,  The  Readers' 
Hand-books,  Adams's  Manual  of  Historical  Literature, 
and  the  many  general  and  special  bibliographies.  Could 
librarians  instruct  the  rank  and  file  of  the  teaching  pro- 
fession in  the  technique  of  real  reference  work,  a  new 
world  would  be  opened  to  many  a  teacher.  She  could 
accomplish  more  in  less  time,  and  perhaps  feel  that  she 
could  afford  to  satisfy  her  desire  for  general  reading  for 
culture. 

Before  teachers  can  instruct  the  pupils  the  teachers 
must  themselves  be  taught.  Before  classwork  opens  in 
Instruction  t^ie  ^'  tne  librarian  should  meet  and  instruct 
for  the  teachers.  In  the  elementary  school  this 

may  be  done  by  grades;  in  the  high  school 
the  teachers  of  a  given  subject  may  form  a  group  for 
instruction,  or  all  may  assemble  in  a  body.  It  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  that  teachers  be  proficient,  for  from  no 
one  can  instruction  so  well  come  to  the  pupils  as  from  the 
class  teachers.  Like  morals,  the  use  of  books  and  the 
significance  of  good  literature  can  best  be  taught  inci- 
dentally to  the  immature  mind.  While  the  set  lessons 
of  librarians  must  be  in  a  sense  abstract  and  formal, 
instruction  in  class  comes  in  such  manner  and  at  such 


The  Library  as  an  Educational  Factor    73 

time  as  to  show  direct  application  to  the  work  in  hand.1 
The  teachers  should  submit  to  the  librarian  a  list  of 
topics  upon  which  the  various  classes  will  be  asked  to 
report  during  the  first  days  of  school.  To- 
gether with  each  list  the  teacher  should  give 
the  titles  of  books  she  desires  the  class  to  librarians 
study.  No  book  or  reference  should  be  thus 
suggested  with  which  the  teacher  is  not  perfectly  familiar. 
If  she  desires  the  librarian  to  add  to  this  list  she  should 
make  this  known.  The  reference  list  should  then  be  posted 
in  the  library.  Both  teacher  and  librarian  must  keep  in 
touch  with  the  progress  of  pupils,  and  encourage  them 
to  add  to  the  lists  any  desirable  references  found.  This 
will  assist  the  pupils  in  working  out  their  bibliographies 
later  in  the  term. 

With  this  proper  understanding  between  teacher  and 
librarian  the  former  will  not  shoulder  her  responsibili- 
ties upon  the  latter,  nor  will  the  librarian  The  teaciier 
fail  to  meet  the  emergency  call  of  the  student,  and  librarian 
If  the  teacher  does  not  inform  herself  on  ^operate 
what  the  library  has  to  offer,  but  simply  admonishes  the 
pupil  to  "go  and  ask  the  librarian,"  both  teacher  and 
librarian  lose  cast  with  the  pupil;  the  teacher  is  held 
to  be  ignorant  and  the  librarian  a  servant.  The  process 
as  between  school  and  library  must  be  one  of  integration. 
The  teacher  and  librarian  must  work  together.  Whether 
in  the  school  or  in  the  library  we  must  realize  the  force 
of  Dr.  Harris's  remark:  "It  is  our  policy  rather  to  de- 
velop ability  than  to  give  exhaustive  information.  The 
printed  page  is  the  mighty  Aladdin's  lamp  which  gives 
to  the  meanest  citizen  the  power  to  lay  a  spell  on  time 
and  space." 

i  Mendenhall,  "Library  Instruction  in  Normal  Schools, "  Public 
Libraries,  13,  p.  39,  1908. 


74  Ideals   and   Democracy 

The  teachers  and  the  public  librarian  must  strike  hands 
in  the  matter  of  selecting  books  to  be  ordered.  The 
librarian  should  be  given  extended  powers  in  all  matters 
of  administration,  and  then  held  for  results.  The  board 
is  an  advisory  body  and  must  have  the  final  word  as  to 
funds,  but  the  judgment  of  the  librarian  should  be  taken 
in  the  matter  of  selection  of  books,  having  first  advised 
with  the  teachers.  The  teachers  should  keep  in  touch 
with  trade-list  journals,  catalogues,  publishers'  bulletins, 
and  review  columns.  They  should  keep  a  bibliography 
on  each  subject  taught,  and  add  to  it  from  time  to  time. 
They  should  work  in  the  library  side  by  side  with  their 
pupils,  thus  giving  to  the  latter  the  same  zest  and 
enthusiasm  as  comes  to  them  when  their  instructors  take 
part  in  their  games  and  sports.  This  will  tend  to  relieve 
the  library  work  of  any  element  of  drudgery  that  might 
attach  to  it  in  the  pupils'  eyes,  did  they  think  it  was  only 
for  those  who  had  to  recite. 

Librarians  frequently  remark:     "We  must  order  what 

our  patrons  demand.     The  people  pay  the  bills.     Our 

readers  call  for  novels  and  light  literature;  they 

tort?*11*  do  not  cal1  for  the  other  kind."  This  is  in  part 
answered  by  saying  that  one  reason  novel  readers 
patronize  the  library  and  other  readers  do  not  is  because 
the  first  find  their  wants  gratified,  while  the  others  may 
not  be  so  fortunate.  Students  can  be  made  of  novel 
readers.  Many  times  a  boy  may  be  led  to  better  reading 
by  encouragement  and  by  telling  him  he  is  capable  of 
going  deeper  into  his  subject  than  are  those  about  him. 
The  books  he  is  reading  are  interesting,  but  you  have 
something  for  him  along  the  same  line,  only  of  a  better 
order.  Little  by  little  a  wrong  tendency  may  be  changed. 
The  influence  here  of  the  teacher  is  of  the  utmost  value. 
To  preach  a  taste  for  good  books,  and  then  be  found 


The  Library  as  an  Educational  Factor    75 

reading  trash,  robs  the  teacher's  opinion  of  weight  and 
her  advice  of  force. 

Many  a  library  is  rich  along  one  line  of  school  work 
and  almost  barren  of  books  touching  other  phases.  This 
will  probably  be  due  to  the  bias  of  the  libra-  Reco  nition 
rian,  or  more  likely  to  the  fact  that  some  for  all 

particular  teacher  requires  considerable  li-  dePartrnen^ 
brary  work  of  his  students  and,  little  by  little,  books 
have  been  purchased  for  his  department.  Naturally, 
the  English  and  history  departments  in  their  various 
phases  make  the  greatest  draft  upon  the  library.  But 
care  must  be  exercised  lest  the  library  become  top- 
heavy.  All  subjects  have  a  strong  humanizing  side,  and 
those  who  study  science  or  mathematics  or  industrial  or 
technical  education  must  be  made  to  feel  that  the  library 
is  for  them  as  well.  Too  frequently  we  endeavor  to  force 
the  boy  who  is  mechanically  inclined  to  read  poetry  or 
English  history,  and  try  to  turn  the  attention  of  his  more 
bookish  brother  toward  natural  science  and  the  indus- 
tries. In  this  way,  we  say,  we  shall  make  well-rounded 
students.  Librarian  and  teacher  must  beware  lest  the 
boy,  halted  in  his  purpose,  stop  reading  entirely  and 
forsake  the  library.  By  suggestion  and  careful  direction 
the  boy  may  be  led  where  he  can  never  be  forced. 

That  the  school  and  library  may  integrate  still  further 
it  has  been  found  advantageous  in  some  localities  to 
organize  libraries  and  schools  under  one  and  Advantages 
the  same  management,  or,  again,  to  have  a  of  joint 
member  of  the  board  of  education  a  member 
also  of  the  library  board.  The  librarian  may  in  fact  be 
a  member  of  the  school  board.  The  same  argument 
would  apply  to  the  desirability  of  this  double  represen- 
tation for  library  and  school  as  for  playground  and  school. 
The  same  care  shown  in  planning  a  school  building  should 


f6  Ideals   and   Democracy 

be  exercised  in  planning  a  library,  and  experts  should 
be  intrusted  with  this  work.  Lighting,  heating,  ventila- 
tion, location  of  stacks  and  shelves,  arrangement  of 
rooms,  offices,  and  desks  —  these  are  matters  of  the  first 
importance.  All  of  this  suggests  that  from  the  financial 
side  the  advantages  of  the  dual  representation  are  ob- 
vious. No  question  would  then  arise  as  to  the  librarian 
giving  necessary  time  to  the  school,  and  here  could  be 
located  a  branch  library  presided  over  by  a  librarian 
salaried  by  the  school. 

Care  should  be  taken  not  to  duplicate  unnecessarily 
the  magazines  and  periodicals  found  in  the  school  library 
and  those  in  the  public  library.  In  so  far  as  possible 
the  permanent  pictures  should  also  be  different.  Simple 
but  artistic  decoration  and  finishing  should  always  be 
secured. 

Discrimination  should  be  exercised  by  school  authori- 
ties and  principals  as  to  the  location  of  the  school  library 
Location  room-  K  space  is  at  a  premium,  as  it  usually 
and  is,  the  library  will  likely  be  found  in  a  dark 

decoration  s^COVQt  or  ^  the  basement,  or  on  the  third 
floor,  or  at  one  side  of  a  dreary  study  room.  Without 
exception,  the  library  should  occupy  the  best  location 
in  the  building.  It  should  preferably  be  removed  from 
sound  of  playground  or  street,  and  be  placed  on  the  first 
or  second  floor.  It  should  be  sunny  and  commodious, 
and  unless  the  school  is  unwieldy,  the  study  periods  should 
be  spent  here  rather  than  in  a  study  room.  The  books 
should  be  grouped  as  to  subjects  —  ancient  history,  Eng- 
lish literature,  French,  chemistry,  geography,  and  the 
like.  The  pupil  should  report  for  study  in  the  library, 
and  take  up  his  position  in  the  alcove  where  the  books 
of  his  subject  are  grouped.  The  librarian  or  an  assistant 
may  thus,  without  loss  of  time,  know  what  each  pupil 


The  Library  as  an  Educational  Factor    77 

is  doing  and  can  lend  aid  or  suggestion.  If  the  book  or 
books  needed  in  a  given  instance  are  not  available  the 
librarian  should  know  this.  The  pupil,  with 

proper  adjustment  between  teacher  and  li-  TJ!e Jibrary 
.  .  d  study  room 

branan,  may  not  return  to  his  class  unpre- 
pared and  with  the  excuse  that  his  book  was  "not  in." 
The  small-room  library  with  its  selected  list  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  class  from  week  to  week  is  essential  to  good 
work.  However,  too  great  a  draft  must  not  be  made  upon 
the  public  library.  The  subject  will  determine  whether 
one  copy  of  each  of  several  books  or  several  copies  of 
one  should  be  placed  in  the  classroom.  It  sometimes 
happens  that  teachers  themselves,  thoughtlessly  or  other- 
wise, have  levied  on  all  the  reference  books  in  a  given 
subject  and  then  refuse  to  accept  the  explanation  from 
the  pupils  that  nothing  can  be  found. 

And  "Let  the  student  be  sent  to  the  library  early  and 
often;  there  is  no  more  welcome  visitor,  but  let  him  be 
sent  upon  an  errand  of  dignity.  Let  the  subject  be  one 
which  will  broaden  his  outlook,  increase  his  store  of 
valuable  knowledge  and  increase  his  pleasure  in  the 
use  of  good  books.  Do  not,  I  beg  of  you,  even  if  he  be 
sent,  let  him  work  so  long  over  an  allusion  in  a  classic 
which  he  is  studying  that  he  lose  his  appreciation  of  the 
literature  and  go  away  from  the  library  with  a  distaste 
instead  of  a  taste  for  'the  best  that  has  been  thought  and 
said  in  the  world.'  A  teacher  fails  somewhat  if  the  pupils 
are  not  led  to  books.  What  use  if  a  child  be  taught  to 
read  if  he  be  not  taught  what  to  read  and  where  to  get  it  ? 
The  teacher  should  seek  to  create  an  appetite  for  books, 
the  librarian  to  gratify  the  appetite  created."1 

Some  of  the  money  used  in  the  purchase  of  new  books 

1  Jewett,  "The  Public  Library  and  the  School  Problem,"  Public 
Libraries,  14:  119,  1909. 


7 8  Ideals   and   Democracy 

could  more  profitably  be  spent  in  issuing  a  series  of  bulle- 
tins, these  in  sufficiently  large  editions  to  provide  students 

and  others  interested.  Clear,  simple,  but  com- 
bulletins  prehensive  abstracts  of  books  and  articles  should 

from  time  to  time  appear.  Every  dollar  put 
into  cheap  novels  which,  when  read,  are  out  of  date  and 
will  never  again  be  referred  to,  would  better  be  devoted 
to  securing  additional  library  assistance  and  in  publishing 
bulletins.  Only  in  rare  instances  should  a  book  of  fiction, 
or  a  volume  of  more  pretentious  foundation  by  an  untried 
author,  find  place  on  the  library  shelves  in  less  than  a 
Standard  vear  ^rom  its  appearance.  The  major  portion  of 
works  cheap  books  would  thus  never  be  brought  within 

the  library.  One  authority  advises  against  buy- 
ing for  school  libraries  literature  less  than  twenty  to 
twenty-five  years  old.1  One  of  the  evils  of  the  day  is 
found  in  the  unwholesome  novel,  the  cheap  magazine, 
and  the  Sunday  newspaper.  The  danger  lies  not  so  much 
in  the  story  itself  as  in  a  warped  habit  of  mind  soon 
established  in  the  reader.  It  is  for  the  teacher  and  libra- 
rian to  study  the  dominant  interests  and  needs  of  the 
boy,  and  to  properly  direct  his  reading  into  normal 
channels. 

The  children's  or  juvenile  room,  if  properly  conducted, 
is  of  the  greatest  value.  Because  teachers  have  their 
Tfo  own  tasks  to  perform  they  can  give  little  as- 

juvenile      sistance  here  in  person.     Through  counsel  and 

advice  they  can  do  much.  Story-telling  and 
reading  to  children  should  have  a  large  place,  and  hence, 
to  be  of  the  greatest  service,  a  sufficient  number  of 
assistants  or  associates  must  be  in  attendance  here.  Our 
children's  rooms  in  libraries  must  be  modern  in  method. 

i  "Public  Schools  and  their  Libraries,"  Library^  New  Series  7, 
P-  373,  1906. 


Thi  Library  as  an  Educational  Factor    79 

Stories  and  readings,  given  along  the  line  of  the  school 
program  and  school  activities,  and  such  as  will  offer  sug- 
gestions for  dramatization,  will  greatly  facilitate  the  regu- 
lar teacher's  work.  For  nothing  tends  to  humanize  school 
work  more  than  does  story-telling  and  dramatization. 

If  then  the  curriculum  be  crowded  and  the  school 
system  so  rigid  that  no  place  remains  for  the  humanizing 
influence  of  good  books,  the  teacher  and  the  The  pupiis> 
librarian  must  work  out  the  problem  between  interest 
them.  If  the  pupil's  interest  lies  in  states-  considered 
craft  and  oratory,  give  him  Patrick  Henry  and  Webster 
and  Pitt  and  Lincoln ;  if  he  wishes  verse,  there  is  Steven- 
son and  Lowell  and  Riley  and  Kipling;  if  applied  science 
or  invention,  then  Franklin  and  Fulton  and  Morse  and 
Edison.  For  each  one,  young  or  old,  the  library  may 
be  "made  to  talk"  if  only  the  teacher  and  the  librarian 
are  wise  and  tactful.  The  day  of  few  books  is  past, 
and  it  is  worse  than  useless  to  deplore  the  change  from 
the  few  well  known  to  the  many  scanned;  but  at  least 
some  good  books  revealing  the  life  and  times  of  the  great 
epochs  in  all  countries  can  be  well  assimilated.  A  few 
books  should  be  thoroughly  digested.  But  with  our 
libraries  overflowing  with  richness;  with  books  and 
newspapers  and  magazines;  with  pictures  and 
exhibits  and  lectures;  with  museums  and 
concerts  and  recitals,  and  all  given  in  the  name 
of  education,  teachers  and  librarians  have  wonderful 
opportunities  and  increased  responsibilities.  They  must 
also  pave  the  way  that  the  pupil  may  gather  the  kernel 
from  many  books  of  many  kinds,  and  from  these  manifold 
sources,  all  of  which  are  more  or  less  closely  related  to 
the  library. 

"Through    the    cooperation    of    principal,    teachers, 
parents,  and  librarian,  the  library  may  be  made  the  very 


8o  Ideals   and   Democracy 

center  of  the  school  work. ' '  *  Modern  methods  of  teaching 
lay  more  and  more  stress  upon  the  use  of  the  library  as 
a  working  laboratory  for  all  departments  and  as  a  means 
of  supplementing  the  regular  textbook  work  in  the  class- 
room by  the  use  of  books  and  illustrative  materials,  thus 
to  give  the  pupil  a  broad  view  of  the  subject  and  awaken 
an  interest  which  may  lead  to  further  reading  on  his 
own  account.  To  create  a  love  for  reading,  and  to  develop 
a  library  habit  which  will  lead  him  to  the  best  use  of  the 
public  library  after  school  days  are  over  as  well  as  during 
his  school  life,  should  be  the  desire  of  those  who  have  the 
training  of  the  boy  in  charge. 

iHall,  "What  the  Librarian  may  do  for  the  High  School," 
Library  Journal,  34:  154,  1909. 


CHAPTER  VI 
OUR  EDUCATIONAL  INVESTMENT 

THE  past  few  years  have  recorded  marked  progress 
throughout  the  country  in  the  interest  taken  by 
laymen  in  the  public  schools.  Indeed,  much  of  the  ad- 
vance made  in  socializing  the  school  is  owing  to  this 
interest.  The  man  in  the  commercial  or  professional 
field,  and  who  is  himself  a  product  of  the  school,  should 
be  well  fitted  to  determine  in  an  unbiased  way  its  strengths 
and  weaknesses.  It  is  the  one  outside  the  school  who  is 
often  able  to  indicate  how  the  work  of  the  schoolroom 
may  be  made  to  harmonize  with  life  as  it  really  exists. 
It  is  he  who,  through  suggestion  and  cooperation  with  the 
teacher,  may  shape  and  mold  the  courses  of  study  toward 
truly  useful  ends. 

Organized  efforts  in  many  sections  have  developed  a 
powerful  working  force  among  the  laymen.    Mothers' 

and  fathers'  clubs,  parents'  meetings,  citi- 

,  ...  •  i_i_     t.      j  The  growing 

zens   committees,  neighborhood  conferences,        interest  of 

advisory  ooards  have  been  of  immense  value    .  the  layman 
in    bringing    together    the    home    and    the 
school.    Familiarity  here  breeds  not  contempt  but  inter- 
est.   Cooperation  of  taxpayer  and  teacher  means  efficient 
schools. 

While  it  is  true  that  in  many  pAaces  this  cooperation 
forms  a  union  of  interests  making  for  the  betterment  of 
the  schools,  for  the  most  part  the  schools,  on  their  organic 
and  executive  sides,  are  let  severely  alone  by  the  laymen. 
Whenever  the  parent  and  the  teacher  stand  shoulder  to 
c  81 


82  Ideals   and   Democracy 

shoulder  it  is  usually  from  the  external  point  of  view. 
Theoretically,  the  parent  is  interested  in  the  school; 
practically,  education  is  shaped  by  the  schoolmen,  as  the 
taxpayer  is  too  busy  to  trouble  himself  with  the  education 
of  his  children. 

Do  you  realize  how  few  parents,  and  teachers  even, 
have  ever  stopped  to  consider  seriously  what  a  complex 
Complexity  of  Process  education  really  is  and  what  a 
the  educational  complicated  machine  the  school  is  becoming  ? 
machine  JJQW  manyf  think  you,  under  our  present 

rapidly  developing  economic  and  industrial  system,  real- 
ize fully  that  the  judgment  and  energy  of  both  teachers 
and  laymen  are  necessary  in  working  out  the  educational 
problem?  Consider  for  a  moment  what  it  means  to 
carry  on  our  educational  existence.  From  the  material 
side  there  are  lands,  and  buildings,  and  textbooks,  and 
schedules,  and  courses  of  study,  and  equipment  of  all 
kinds.^  There  are  taxes,  and  salaries,  and  school  boards, 
and  rules,  and  reports.  There  are  the  teachers  them- 
selves, and  janitors,  and  various  school  officers  and 
employees.  Then  there  is  geography,  and  history,  and 
composition,  and  reading,  and  spelling,  and  nature  study, 
and  physiology,  and  hygiene,  and  manual  training,  and 
music,  and  gymnastics,  and  drawing,  and  penmanship, 
and  bookkeeping,  and  arithmetic,  and  domestic  science, 
and  domestic  art;  there  is  zoology,  and  botany,  and 
physics,  and  chemistry,  and  physiography,  and  Latin, 
and  French,  and  Spanish,  and  German,  and  algebra,  and 
geometry,  and  more  besides.  There  are  organizations, 
and  recitations,  and  study,  and  mental  growth,  and  phys- 
ical development,  and  moral  insight,  and  punishment,  and 
examinations,  and  marks,  and  promotions,  and  failures, 
and  discipline,  and  pleasures,  and  disappointments,  and 
graduations.  And  what  is  it  all  about  ? 


Our  Educational  Investment  83 

We  agree  in  a  general  way  as  to  the  meaning  of  education 
and  the  importance  of  the  schools.  As  you  think  of  it 
a  moment  can  you  organize  your  thoughts  into  such 
concrete  form  as  to  set  forth  a  statement,  satisfactory  to 
yourself  and  to  others,  on  the  significance  of  it  all? 

Now  suppose  you  come  into  possession  of  a  sum  of 
money — say  five  hundred  dollars.  You  have  at  the 
moment  no  need  for  this  amount,  either  for 
the  support  or  pleasure  of  your  family  or 
yourself,  or  to  settle  outstanding  bills.  You  merits  must 
therefore  desire  at  once  to  seek  a  safe  and  brinzreturns 
profitable  investment.  To  deposit  your  money  in  the 
bank  may  prove  a  safe  measure,  but  if  it  draws  no 
interest  so  placed  you  look  elsewhere.  You  must  realize 
upon  your  investment.  You  desire  to  put  it  somewhere 
at  work  that  it  may  yield  an  increase. 

In  seeking  for  an  investment  you  proceed  logically 
and  thoughtfully.  You  listen  to  the  advice  and  counsel 
of  your  friends.  You  contrast  the  successes  or  failures 
of  those  who  have  invested  funds  in  this  or  that  enter- 
prise. You  talk  with  those  whose  business  it  is  to  look 
after  such  investments.  You  interview  those  who  have 
for  sale  stocks  or  bonds  or  mortgages  or  bank  shares  or 
mining  interests  or  lands  or  houses  or  goods  or  personal 
property,  and  you  study  the  conditions  and  investigate 
the  merits  of  each  project.  Finally  you  weigh  the  evi- 
dence and  conclude  accordingly. 

If  you  are  a  merchant  you  put  yourself  in  touch  with 
the  temper  of  the  times,  the  demands  of  the  trade,  the 
direction  of  public  opinion.  You  endeavor  The  merchant 
to  look  into  the  future,  and  your  goods  are  .  and 
purchased  after  careful  study.  You  want 
salable  articles  and  those  upon  which  you  can  realize. 
The  investment  must  be  a  profitable  one.  If  you  are  a 


84  Ideals   and   Democracy 

farmer  you  study  the  markets,  the  last  year's  crop  yield, 
and  the  prospects  for  the  year  to  come.  You  contrast 
The  farmer  ^6  P^ces  °*  one  product  with  those  of 
and  another.  Through  investigation  and  exper- 

his  problem  ^Q^^Q^  you  determine  whether  or  not 
the  soil  is  adapted  to  a  particular  crop,  what  effect  this 
or  that  fertilizer  has  upon  the  yield,  what  irrigation  and 
working  of  the  soil  will  accomplish,  how  rotation  of  crops 
affects  the  output — in  fact,  you  make  a  business  of  farm- 
ing that  your  investment  may  bring  returns. 

The  stock  raiser  makes  an  equally  intensive  study  of 
his  vocation.  He  wishes  to  produce  an  animal  for  speed 
The  stock  or  endurance  or  weight  or  beauty.  He 
raiser's  desires  a  horse  for  the  track  or  for  traffic, 

viewpoint  an(j  j^  gaudies  the  problem,  having  in  mind 
a  particular  object.  The  demand  is  for  poultry  of  size 
or  of  a  particular  delicacy  of  texture,  and  these  matters 
engage  his  attention.  An  animal  of  a  certain  color  is 
developed.  Sheep,  fowl,  sea  food,  hogs,  cattle,  through 
cross  breeding  and  care  and  feeding,  are  produced  to 
meet  the  required  demand.  Everything  that  pertains  to 
our  material  welfare,  our  comfort,  our  convenience,  our 
commercial  gain,  is  carefully  worked  over  and  planned  and 
studied,  that  progress  may  be  assured  and  development 
made  possible.  Our  investments  must  bring  returns. 

A  bush,  small  and  ill  shaped,  that  grows  by  the  road- 
side or  in  the  swamp,  or  far  within  the  recesses  of  the 
forest,  is  laid  hold  of  and  transplanted  in  the 

Contributions  ,  ..  _.      .        _. 

of  the  florist    garden  of  Luther  Burbank.     In  the  original 

and  hor-  state  the  fruit  is  scant  and  small  and  hard 
ticultunst  ,  ,  . 

and  bitter,  and  rendered  further  useless  by 

the  presence  of  countless  seeds.  A  few  months  of  prun- 
ing and  grafting  and  most  careful  attention,  and  behold ! 
a  shrub,  symmetrical,  sturdy,  producing  fruit  large  and, 


Our  Educational  Investment  85 

luscious  and  in  quantity  far  in  excess  of  the  original  yield. 
From  a  rose,  small  and  unattractive,  are  born  the  most 
magnificent  blossoms.  The  cactus,  with  weapons  to  repel 
those  who  would  seek  its  fruit,  is  become  an  excellent 
and  valuable  food.  How  amply  has  investment  brought 
returns  in  this  particular  field ! 

The  railroad  locomotive  of  an  earlier  day  consumed  an 
excessive  amount  of  coal  in  producing  sufficient  energy 

to  haul  the  train  one  mile.    Little  by  little  _ 

,  .  -  The  mecham- 

and  step  by  step,  through  careful  manage-  Cal  world  and 

ment  and  exact  experiment  and  calculation,    returns  upon 

investment 
this  amount  was  reduced;  the  construction 

of  the  engine  was  modified.  When  the  amount  of  coal 
saved  by  one  engine  in  traveling  one  mile  was  multiplied 
by  the  total  number  of  miles  traveled  in  a  day,  and  this 
increased  by  the  number  of  engines  in  use,  a  sum  vast 
enough  to  produce  a  marvelous  increase  in  dividends  was 
saved.  By  watching  carefully  from  the  footboard  of  the 
engine  the  oil  as  it  fell,  drop  by  drop,  from  the  cup  to  the 
bearings  and  gears,  and  by  adjusting  this  flow  to  meet 
the  actual  requirements,  a  saving  in  a  day  was  figured 
in  oil  alone  such  as  would  make  a  fortune  for  a  poor 
man.  Investments  must  pay. 

But  how  is  it  in  education?  Your  merchant  or  farmer 
or  stock  man  or  florist  or  mechanic;  your  clerk  or  lawyer 
or  banker  or  blacksmith  or  politician  or  financier — are 
these  considering  their  educational  investments  equally 
with  those  other  investments  in  the  business  and  material 
world  ?  How  about  the  boys  and  girls  who  are  to  become 
the  future  citizens?  Is  such  care  and  attention  bestowed 
upon  them  as  is  accorded  the  colt  and  the  cabbage?  Is 
the  average  man  as  concerned  in  developing  each  year 
a  better  product  from  the  school  as  he  is  in  perfecting 
a  larger  variety  of  corn,  a  record-breaking  horse,  or  a 


86  Ideals   and   Democracy 

labor-saving  and  hence  a  money-maidng  device?  These 
things  we  look  after  carefully,  and  indeed  not  too  carefully. 
We  give  them  our  personal  attention.  We  do  not  leave 
them  entirely  to  assistants  and  employees. 

We  subscribe  for  papers  and  reports  that  we  may  study 
the  stock  quotations  and  follow  the  daily  movements  of  the 
Businessmen  markets  of  the  world.  We  read  scientific 
pay  little  articles  in  magazines  written  by  experts  and 
to  'their*  investigators  that  we  may  keep  in  touch  with 
educational  the  latest  developments  in  commerce  and 
manufacture  and  agriculture.  We  interest 
ourselves,  and  all  too  little,  in  the  doings  at  our  state 
capital  and  at  the  seat  of  national  government,  and  we 
advise  and  argue  and  criticize  and  question  as  to  the 
probable  effect  of  a  new  legislative  measure.  We  pursue 
with  attention  the  findings  in  the  medical  world,  the 
better  to  know  how  to  cope  with  physical  disorders. '  No 
time  is  too  valuable,  no  energy  too  great,  no  monetary 
consideration  too  excessive  to  devote  to  matters  concerning 
our  material  welfare,  provided  the  investment,  whether 
of  time  or  energy  or  money,  promises  returns  in  dollars 
or  satisfaction.  To  gratify  ambition  or  pride  or  taste  or 
desire  for  wealth,  no  effort  is  spared.  But  the  education 
of  the  nation's  children  seems  to  be  a  secondary  con- 
sideration, left  largely  in  the  hands  of  poorly  paid  em- 
ployees of  the  state — men  and  women  for  the  most  part 
conscientious,  and  usually  competent,  but  too  often  out 
of  touch  with  the  world  of  men  and  things,  and  therefore 
looked  upon  by  the  laymen  as  idealists  and  theorists. 

"Hold!"  says  the  layman.  "The  teachers  themselves 
do  not  agree  on  many  of  the  details  and  some  of  the  broad 
issues  even.  How  then  can  I  be  of  assistance?  I  have 
my  business  to  attend  to,  and  the  school  people  are  paid 
to  do  their  work."  Let  it  be  said,  however,  that  if  this 


Our  Educational  Investment  87 

indictment  be  true  the  fault  lies  not  alone  with  the 
teacher.  That  so  little  has  been  settled  in  the  educational 
world  is  largely  on  account  of  lack  of  sufficient  Att't  d  f 
cooperation  between  taxpayer  and  teacher;  layman  one 
because  so  little  thought  is  given  their  educa-  caus^setfled 
tional  investment  by  the  laymen.  These  condition  of 
latter  seldom  endeavor  to  ascertain  how  the  the  schools 
account  stands.  They  have  no  double-entry  system  of 
books  for  the  school  showing  what  it  demands  and  what 
it  returns.  They  seldom  take  an  inventory  or  strike  a 
balance  or  have  the  books  audited  or  experted.  The 
school  is  simply  the  place  to  which,  during  several  years 
of  their  lives,  the  children  go  daily  preparatory  to  enter- 
ing upon  the  more  serious  duties  to  follow.  Education 
is  a  continued  story  without  a  climax.  There  is  so  much 
that  remains  unsettled. 

This  whole  matter  reminds  me  of  an  incident  related  by 
ex-Governor  Alva  Adams  of  Colorado.  An  inmate  of  the 
state  penitentiary  was  one  day  conversing  with  the  warden. 
During  the  interview  the  prisoner  indicated  displeasure 
at  his  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  prisoners'  association. 
"But,"  said  the  warden,  "I  presumed  you  were  well 
taken  care  of.  Have  they  not  looked  to  your  comfort  in 
matters  of  food  and  books  and  the  like?"  '  "Oh,  yes, 
they  've  brought  me  things,"  was  the  reply,  "but  you  see 
it 's  this  way:  they  have  given  me  nothing  but  magazines 
containing  continued  stories,  and  I  am  to  be  hanged  on 
Friday." 

The  average  citizen  possesses  so  little  knowledge  of  the 
processes  of  education,  of  methods  of  obtaining  results, 
or  of  the  intricacies  of  the  educational  machine,  that  he 
contributes  his  portion  of  the  running  expenses,  charges 
it  up  to  profit  and  loss,  and  thinks  little  more  about  it. 
He  blindly  trusts  that  somehow  the  school  will  send  his 


88  Ideals   and   Democracy 

boy  and  girl  back  to  him  with  what  is  called  an  education. 
He  cannot  for  the  life  of  him  tell  just  where  or  how  his 
Relation  be-  investment  has  yielded  returns  and  where 
tween  education  it  has  not.  If  there  exists  any  relation 
n^worldnot  between  putting  money  into  schools  and 
appreciated  by  extracting  it  from  financial  ventures  he 

does  not  know  it.  His  duty  in  giving  time 
and  thought  to  the  betterment  of  educational  method 
and  endeavor,  whether  or  not  he  has  children  to  educate, 
he  cannot  see. 

The  most  important  consideration  before  our  people 
to-day  is  the  proper  education  of  the  generation  now  in 
Duty  of  the  scno°l  &&&  those  generations  to  come.  It  is 
parent  to  cor-  not  just  that  we  leave  that  delicate  organ- 
tifcriticize  **  ism~~tlie  growing,  developing,  expanding 

child  and  his  educational  necessities  and 
wants — to  our  teachers  alone.  The  laymen  should  not 
criticize  unless  they  attempt  to  study  the  methods  and 
equipments  of  the  school  and  the  teachers  as  well, 
that  light  may  be  thrown  upon  the  school  and  its 
product,  and  the  educational  investment  made  to  yield 
more  abundant  returns.  There  is  not  one  layman  in  a 
dozen,  not  one  in  a  hundred,  who  has  ever  read  a  book  on 
education  or  the  conduct  of  the  school  or  the  nature  of 
the  boy.  There  is  not  one  in  a  hundred  who  can  even 
name  such  a  book.  Only  an  occasional  parent  has  ever 
given  thirty  consecutive  minutes  to  conversation  with 
the  man  or  woman  with  whom  his  boy  or  girl  spends 
a  large  portion  of  each  school  day.  The  number  of 
fathers  is  small  indeed  who  have  ever  followed  that  boy 
or  that  girl  to  the  schoolroom  to  note,  at  first  hand,  the 
progress  made. 

And  the  teacher  who  is  accused  of  being  a  theorist,  of 
knowing  nothing  of  business  or  affairs,  of  having  no 


Our  Educational  Investment  8p 

conception  of  the  so-called  practical  phases  of  life,  how 
is  it  with  her?  It  is  the  common  comment  of  the  busi- 
ness man  that  he  can  ''tell  a  teacher  at  first  -,, 

•  1      »»    /TVI  -i  •*  ^  teacher 

sight.  The  pedagogue  of  two  or  three  years'  not  altogether 
experience  carries  herself  with  an  independent  a  theorist 
air.  The  average  woman  teacher  manages  her  own 
business  affairs.  She  is  self-supporting  and  frequently  the 
sole  support  of  the  family.  She  buys  and  sells.  She  has 
a  bank  account,  small  perhaps,  and  is  conversant  with 
the  ordinary  banking  methods.  She  carries  life  insurance, 
makes  investments,  borrows  money,  gives  mortgages, 
pays  rent  and  taxes,  buys  furniture,  and  gains  experience 
through  suffering  at  the  hands  of  unscrupulous  promotors. 
She  follows  developments  in  the  world  of  business,  com- 
merce, industry,  politics,  religion,  and  gives  her  students 
the  benefit  of  her  knowledge.  In  a  word,  the  teacher  is 
less  of  a  theorist  in  matters  pertaining  to  the  great  world 
of  life  and  activity  than  is  the  business  man  in  affairs 
educational. 

Can  any  sane  man  imagine  for  a  moment  that  the 
product  of  the  school  is  less  vital  than  the  product  of 

the  shop  ?    Do  newspapers  consider  it  worth 

,  .,  „.  .  -  Taxpayer  not 

while  to  devote  space  to  discussions  of  great     informed  on 

educational  questions  while  murders  and  educational 
prize  fights  and  scandals  abound  so  freely? 
And  again  I  say  that  the  average  man  has  never  read  a 
single  treatise  on  education  —  its  history,  its  method,  its 
psychology.  He  does  not  suggest  how  the  course  of 
study  may  be  improved,  the  training  of  the  boy  made  to 
be  more  in  harmony  with  his  after-school  life,  the  equip- 
ment bettered,  or  the  school  funds  spent  to  greater 
advantage.  In  short,  the  average  layman  does  not  con- 
sider how  the  investment  he  has  made  and  is  making  in 
education  may  yield  a  more  substantial  return. 


go  Ideals   and  Democracy 

So  negligent  have  been  the  laymen  as  regards  their 
public  schools  and  so  slow  the  teachers  to  conform  to 
changed  conditions,  that  some  of  the  far-seeing  corpora- 
tions, finding  they  cannot  secure  the  right  sort  of  product 
from  the  schools,  have  organized  educational  concerns 
of  their  own.  These  they  conduct  at  their  own  expense. 
Herein  they  train  young  men  for  the  service  of  the  cor- 
poration, trade,  or  business  represented. 

Larger  returns  from  investments  in  the  business  world 
mean  a  breaking  away  from  traditions  and  the  accepting 

Negligence  of  of  tne  new  order  of  tnings  brought  about 
the  public  by  the  application  of  science  to  the  arts, 
'establishing  ^ne  development  of  economic  and  industrial 
factory  conditions,  and  the  substituting  of  labor- 

saving  devices  and  intricate  and  powerful 
machines  for  the  hand  labor  of  bygone  days.  Larger 
returns  demand  constructive  thought  and  the  transforming 
of  ideas  into  action,  rather  than  adherence  to  worn-out 
methods  of  imitation.  And  the  great  business  concerns, 
realizing  this,  realize  also  that  the  school  must  step  into 
line  or  be  satisfied  with  returns  inadequate  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  day. 

These  industrial  corporations  of  which  I  am  speaking 
see  to  it  that  in  their  schools  there  is  a  fine  adjustment 
of  courses.  Those  who  support  these  schools 
nave  made  an  in^nsive  study  of  the  educa- 
lesson  to  tion  of  to-day  and  are  not  satisfied  with  the 
retums  on  the  investment.  They  do  not 
believe  in  chance  or  in  "guess  work"  or  in 
"hit-and-miss "  investments.  They  do  not  take  the  school 
on  trust.  They  wrench  apart  the  doors  of  tradition;  they 
test  the  strength  and  worth  of  methods  and  courses,  and 
compare  values ;  they  analyze  their  findings  and  strengthen 
the  weak  parts;  they  eliminate  the  useless,  utilize  the 


Our  Educational  Investment  pj 

by-products,  and  build  up  the  educational  machine  along 
the  line  of  the  demands  of  the  day.  All  this  is  a  sugges- 
tion of  the  necessity  for  a  closer  coming  together  of  the 
layman  and  the  teacher.  It  shows  the  desirability  of  the 
taxpayer  looking  into  the  details  of  education,  that  he 
may  ascertain  whether  the  investment  is  bringing  ade- 
quate returns. 

When  parents  begin  to  take  an  active  interest  in  the 
work  of  the  school  the  teacher  is  encouraged  and  spurred 
on  to  greater  effort.  Through  contact  with 
men  of  affairs  the  teacher  is  enabled  to  puffincw- 
improve  the  school  by  gaining  the  point  of  a&ed  by  interest 
view  of  the  world  at  large.  The  boys  and  ****** 
girls  are  led  to  see  that  the  school  has  a  real  meaning, 
because  their  fathers  and  mothers  interest  themselves  in  it. 

But  it  is  not  entirely  the  fault  of  the  laymen  that 
they  are  not  in  close  touch  with  the  school  and  its  life. 
Many  teachers  welcome  the  parent  into  the 
classroom;  but  many  others  much  prefer  the 
parent  should  remain  away  and  allow  those  *»  gaining 
"whose  business  it  is "  to  conduct  the  schools  co°Peration 
as  they  choose.  As  a  class,  teachers  have  come  to  look 
upon  parents  who  visit  the  school  frequently  as  meddlers. 
They  are  supposed  to  hinder  the  progress  of  the  school 
routine  in  general,  since  each  parent  is  anxious  mainly 
for  the  welfare  of  his  own  boy  and  expects  the  work  to  be 
shaped  to  meet  his  individual  needs.  The  parent  further 
expects  that  the  teacher  will  devote  more  than  the  pro- 
portionate time  allotment  to  John  or  Clara,  and  feels 
sure  that  partiality  for  other  children  is  shown  and  that 
blame  is  attached  where  it  does  not  belong. 

Let  not  the  teacher  forget  that  fathers  and  mothers  are 
fathers  and  mothers,  even  though  their  judgment  may  at 
times  be  warped  and  twisted,  and  notwithstanding  their 


92  Ideals   and   Democracy 

opinions  of  John's  ability  and  Clara's  seriousness  of  pur- 
pose are  not  well  founded.    For  after  all,  John's  father 
and  Clara's  mother  have  rights  and  privileges 
rights  that       which  the  teacher  must  not  ignore.     If  the 

must  be  teacher  consult  the  parent  as  to  his  wishes ; 

recognized  ., 

council  with  him  on  the  progress  his  boy  is 

making;  study  the  home  conditions,  the  temperament  and 
viewpoint  of  the  parent,  and  enlist  the  taxpayer  on  the 
side  of  the  school,  the  latter  will  soon  see  his  cooperation 
is  desired.  He  will  feel  that  he  has  an  investment  in  the 
school,  and  that  this  investment  demands  his  constant 
attention.  If  the  parent  can  be  made  to  understand  that 
he  is  not  an  interloper  when  he  visits  the  school ;  that  as 
a  member  of  the  firm  it  is  understood  he  comes  not  to 
dictate,  but  as  a  counselor  and  to  know  what  transactions 
are  taking  place,  more  fathers  and  mothers  would  take 
an  active  interest  in  school  affairs,  and  these  institutions 
would  be  made  vastly  more  efficient  than  now. 

From  another  point  of  view  it  would  be  to  the  interest 
of  teachers  to  seek  an  active  cooperation  with  the  tax- 
Codperation  Pavers-  The  whole  matter  of  teachers' 
and  teachers1  salaries  is  now  being  threshed  out  the  country 
over.  As  the  increased  cost  of  living  has 
confronted  the  teacher,  as  it  has  confronted  every  other 
member  of  society,  the  strain  has  been  great.  Salaries 
are  not  adequate  to  meet  the  enlarged  financial  demands 
made  upon  the  teacher.  The  average  citizen  takes  the 
stand  that  the  teacher  is  paid  for  twelve  months'  work 
and  is  generously  allowed  three  months'  vacation  with 
no  attendant  responsibilities.  He  further  believes  that 
teachers  are  employed  five  days  only  each  week,  with 
evenings,  Saturdays,  and  Sundays  free.  Hence,  contends 
the  citizen,  the  salaries  are  commensurate  with  results 
accomplished  and  with  demands  made  upon  the  teacher. 


Our  Educational  Investment 


93 


This  attitude  and  misconception  on  the  part  of  men 
and  women  without  the  school  would  change  were  they 
familiar  with  the  routine  of  the  schoolroom  Duties  of 
and  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  exacting  the  teacher 
requirements  of  the  teaching  profession.  Let  renewed 
the  teacher  bring  the  parent  to  the  school  that  the  lat- 
ter may  familiarize  himself  at  first  hand  with  the  work 
of  the  classroom.  Let  the  parent  but  fully  appreciate 
what  it  means  to  qualify  for  the  profession  of  teaching, 
through  the  several  years  of  study  and  preparation;  what 
it  signifies  to  prepare,  day  after  day,  the  several  lessons 
in  the  school  program.  Let  him  realize  the  labor  involved 
in  reading  and  grading  written  papers,  in  correcting 
outlines  and  problems,  in  studying  each  individual  child. 
Let  him  see  how  the  teacher  must  reckon  with  each  case 
of  absence,  tardiness,  discipline;  how  he  must  bring  up 
the  slow  or  defective  pupils  and  give  extra  work  to  the 
rapid  or  competent ;  how  he  must  suggest  proper  physical 
exercises,  assist  in  games  and  sports,  see  that  eyes  are  not 
overstrained  and  that  all  hygienic  laws  are  observed;  how 
he  must  insist  upon  proper  observance  of  moral  standards 
— let  the  teacher  through  cooperation  with  the  taxpayer 
lead  him  to  appreciate  the  manifold  duties  and  respon- 
sibilities resting  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  former.  Then 
will  the  question  of  adequate  salary  for  the  competent 
teacher  be  satisfactorily  settled. 

With  all  his  duties,  then,  the  teacher  must  have  one 
other  added  to  his  list— that  of  interesting  the  parents 
in  the  schools.  Education  is  to-day  so  complex  that  the 
parent  hesitates  to  examine  into  the  organization  of  the 
school— and  besides,  the  school  and  courses  of  study  and 
methods  of  arriving  at  results  are  vastly  different  from 
those  of  his  early  days.  Life  is  so  exacting  in  its  require- 
ments that  parents  find  difficulty  in  laying  aside  the 


P4  Ideals   and   Democracy 

regular  routine  of  their  affairs  for  a  tramp  off  "cross  lots" 
to  the  school.  If  the  teachers  are  to  be  responsible  for  the 
establishment  of  parents'  organizations,  for  cooperation 
and  union  of  interests,  more  than  ever  must  professional 
standards  be  raised  and  more  than  ever  must  we  demand 
the  teacher  of  purpose  and  of  power. 

And  what  shall  be  the  reward  of  such  a  teacher  ?  Withal 
his  task  is  heavy.  He  meets  hardships  and  discourage- 
ments. The  results  he  aims  at  are  not 
day's  work  always  achieved.  His  power  for  good  cannot 
be  measured.  More  than  any  other  calling 
is  that  of  the  true  teacher  a  noble  one.  He  deals  with 
the  future  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  He  has  it  in  his 
hand  to  shape  the  destinies  of  individuals.  Shall  he  not 
be  paid  for  his  services?  Is  he  not  to  receive  a  fitting 
compensation? 

The  teacher  has  his  reward.  Pay  for  the  work  of  the 
public  schools  of  our  country?  Pay  for  the  accom- 
plishments of  Socrates  and  Pestalozzi  and  Mann  and 
Barnard  and  Parker?  Pay  for  the  educational  giants  of 
the  past  and  present?  Pay  for  the  multitude  of  teachers 
scattered  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land  ?  These 
we  cannot  pay.  Day  by  day,  hour  by  hour,  they  receive 
their  reward  in  the  consciousness  of  tasks  begun  and 
accomplished,  of  arts  turned  to  useful  accomplishment,  of 
sacrifices  made,  of  character  formed,  of  lives  brightened 
and  ennobled,  of  hearts  made  happier,  of  thoughts  made 
better,  and  of  minds  directed  to  service  for  mankind ;  in 
the  realization  of  boys  and  girls  who  under  this  care  and 
this  guidance  shall  grow  to  be  blessings  to  themselves  and 
to  the  world. 


CHAPTER  VII 
A  MORE  EFFICIENT  SCHOOL 

THE  era  of  educational  cataloguing  has  not  yet  passed 
into  history.    A  knowledge  of  the  number  of  bones 
in  the  human  body  and  their  location  is  still  looked  upon 
in  some  quarters  as  one  of  the  fundamentals  in  the  study 
of  physiology.    To  be  able  to  recite  in  exact 
order  the  periods,  ages,  epochs,  eras,  and  times        subjects 
in  geologic  development  argues  to  the  minds      still  weak 
of  many  the  mark  of  a  trained  geologist.    The 
dates  of  battles,  relative  size  of  armies,  in- 
trigues of  courts,  details  in  the  line  of  princesses,  time 
of  discovery  and  exploration,  mean  historical  knowledge. 
.Geography  promises  for  some  time  to  come  to  be  made 
up  in  large  measure  of  definitions  of  land  forms,  location 
and  size  of  cities,  heights  of  mountains,  length  of  rivers, 
and  territorial  areas.    Arithmetic  is  still  too  much  a 
matter  of  rules  than  of  reasons,  and  is  so  arranged  and 
presented  as  to  consider  very  little  any  information  that 
may  prove  of  value  out  of  school.    Language,  drawing, 
and  other  elementary-school  subjects;  science,  mathemat- 
ics, English,  in  the  high  school;   philosophy,  economics, 
and  psychology  as  practiced  in  colleges  and  professional 
institutions — all  are  taught  with  a  greater  or  less  bias 
toward  the  cataloguing  method.    Chronological  order  and 
quantity  of  material  still  count  for  more  than  ability  to 
know  where  to  go  for  information  when  a  demand  is 
created  for  it,  or  than  a  knowledge  of  how  to  study. 
The  cataloguing  method  has  from  the  beginning  been 

95 


96  Ideals   and   Democracy 

applied  to  individuals.  They  have  been  classed  as  good 
or  bad,  rich  or  poor,  high  or  low,  cultured  or  uncouth. 
There  are  those  who  help  and  those  who  hinder,  those 
who  push  and  those  who  retard,  those  who  smile  and 
those  who  sulk.  Some  are  classed  as  conservatives,  some 
as  radicals;  some  as  optimists,  others  as  pessimists;  as 
progressives  or  as  non-progressives;  as  builders  or  as 
obstructionists.  In  every  department  of  life  and  thought 
we  still  find  a  strong  tendency  toward  classification  and 
cataloguing,  in  far  too  many  cases  considering  this  the 
end.  We  still  live  in  the  cataloguing  age. 

This  method  of  classification  of  individuals  is  based 
upon  the  place  men  occupy  in  the  material  world,  the 
Lack  of  work  they  attempt  to  do,  and  the  results 
vision  retards  they  accomplish.  The  ultra-conservative,  non- 
progress  progressive,  the  old-is-good-enough-for-me 
type  ot  individual  is  perfectly  content  to  "let  Nature 
take  her  own  course,"  as  he  thinks  she  has  always  done. 
He  does  not  know  that  man,  who,  in  the  beginning,  r/as 
largely  the  creature  of  his  own  environment,  has,  whenever 
progress  has  been  made,  taken  hold  of  his  environment 
and  shaped  it  to  suit  his  own  needs.  This  type  of  man 
labors  in  the  world  of  to-day  but  lives  in  the  atmosphere 
of  yesterday.  His  eyes  see  the  wonderful  changes  wrought 
in  the  fields  of  commerce,  industry,  art,  science,  morals, — 
the  whole  social  fabric, — but  his  mind  does  not  compre- 
hend the  meaning  of  these  changes  or  the  significance  of 
this  development.  When  not  blind  to  progress  he  is 
fearful  for  the  future  and  will  be  loyal  to  tradition  for 
the  sake  of  the  "good  old  days."  He  is  a  conservative, 
and  may  easily  develop  into  an  obstructionist.  The 
other  type  of  man  is  not  always  content  with  things  as 
he  finds  them,  but  he  seeks  to  know  how  they  may  be 
improved.  He  knows  that  the  world  moves,  and  desires 


A   More  Efficient  School  gj 

to  have  a  share  in  shaping  this  movement.  Realizing 
that  while  evolution  is  a  sure  it  is  sometimes  a  slow 
progress,  he  pleases  himself  and  others  by  preserving 
a  happy  disposition,  coupled  with  judgment,  poise,  and 
balance.  He  works  for  the  best  good  of  all  and  thereby 
advances  his  own  individual  interests. 

In  the  educational  world  two  distinct  types  or  classes 
of  people  largely  predominate.  One  of  these  holds  for 
the  methods,  the  curricula,  the  ideals  of  the 
fathers.  Since  progress  has  been  made,  why,  ^tiwand 
say  they,  change  a  certainty  for  an  experiment  the  radical: 
that  may  prove  fatal  ?  The  other  class  must 
advocate  the  new  simply  for  the  sake  of  the  new,  know- 
ing indeed,  like  the  calamity  howler,  that  "something  is 
wrong,"  but  having  no  knowledge  of  where  the  remedy 
is  to  be  found  or  how  to  apply  it.  A  few,  and  a  few  only, 
have  so  fully  analyzed  the  conditions  as  to  be  able  to 
take  the  valuable  in  the  schools  of  the  past  and  to  use 
this  in  connection  with  modern  thought  and  practice, 
to  the  end  that  our  schools  of  to-day  may  be  made  to 
meet  the  demands  imposed  upon  them. 

But  note  further:  the  question  is  an  open  one  in  the 
minds  of  many  as  to  whether  the  wonderful  progress 
made  during  the  past  few  decades  is  due  mainly  to  the 
work  of  the  schools;  as  to  whether  school  education,  or 
that  obtained  from  books,  is  real  education,  or  that  which 
comes  from  a  study  of  things.  The  contention  is  made 
that  development,  advance,  progress,  come  not  because 
of  but  in  spite  of  the  schools.  The  school,  they  say,  is 
superficial ;  the  world  is  actual.  The  idea  further  prevails 
that  the  school  trains  away  from  rather  than  toward  the 
actualities  of  life,  and  that  when  the  individual  enters  upon 
these  actualities  of  life  he  is  forced  to  unlearn  many  things 
taught  him  in  the  superficial  atmosphere  of  the  school. 

T 


g8  Ideals   and   Democracy 

"That  which  our  school  courses  leave  almost  entirely 
out,  we  thus  find  to  be  that  which  most  nearly  concerns 
the  business  of  life.  All  our  industries  would  cease  were 
it  not  for  that  information  which  men  begin  to  acquire  as 
best  they  may  after  their  education  is  said  to  be  finished. 
And  were  it  not  for  this  information  that  has  been  from 
age  to  age  accumulated  and  spread  by  unofficial  means, 
these  industries  would  never  have  existed.  Had  there 
been  no  teaching  but  such  as  is  given  in  our  public  schools, 
England  would  now  be  what  it  was  in  feudal  times.  The 
vital  knowledge,  that  by  which  we  have  grown  as  a 
nation  to  what  we  are,  and  which  underlies  our  whole 
existence,  is  a  knowledge  that  has  got  itself  taught  in 
nooks  and  corners,  while  the  ordained  agencies  for  teach- 
ing have  been  mumbling  little  else  than  dead  formulas."1 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  school  tends  many  times  in 
its  training  toward  dependency  and  away  from  self-reli- 
ance and  leadership;  it  does  not  materially  add  to,  even 
though  it  does  not  detract  from,  the  initiative  of  the 
boy;  and  since  many  of  the  leaders  go  to  school,  it  is 
clear  that  some  of  them  must  come  away.  That  the 
school-trained  man  is  not  alone  the  educated  man  has 
ample  proof.  "The  Boers  taught  a  lasting  lesson  to 
the  British  in  the  philosophy  of  war,  and  proved  to  them 
that  the  school-trained  man  was  not  all."  Before  the 
British  could  successfully  cope  with  their  opponents  they 
were  forced  to  add  to  their  school-made  curriculum  a  few 
courses  in  the  art  of  rough-and-ready  warfare.  In  other 
words,  it  was  necessary  to  adjust  methods  so  as  to  meet 
the  conditions. 

Certain  it  is  that  the  school  as  now  organized  and 
conducted  is  not  entirely,  although  perhaps  largely, 
responsible  for  the  rapid  advances  made  during  the  past 

1  Herbert  Spencer. 


A   More  Efficient  School  pp 

few  years  either  in  the  field  of  learning  or  elsewhere  in 
human  achievement.    That  educational  institutions  are, 
however,  playing  a  remarkable  part  in  our  Themeanin 
upbuilding  must  not  be  overlooked.     Here     of  a  modern 
and  there  is  to  be  found  a  modern  school,  school 

—  modern  not  merely  as  to  time  but  in  the  character 
of  its  work,  the  ideals  toward  which  it  strives,  and  the 
results  it  achieves.  These  modern  schools  may  be  of 
elementary,  secondary,  or  collegiate  grade;  they  may  be 
vocational,  trade,  industrial,  commercial,  or  correspond- 
ence in  type;  they  may  emphasize  agricultural,  tech- 
nical, classical,  scientific,  or  professional  training.  But 
whatever  the  character  or  the  grade  of  school  or  the 
particular  kind  of  instruction  offered,  the  promoters  of 
such  institutions  realize  that  education  to  be  effective  must 
meet  a  demand,  and  that  if  no  real  motive  animates  the 
learner  the  school  must  furnish  this. 

The  prevailing  belief  in  the  minds  of  some  so-called 
educationalists  has  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  schools 
should  teach  nothing  that  could  in  any  way  False 

be  used  in  everyday  life.  One  is  almost  conceptions 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  precaution  was  °f  educa" 
taken  lest  there  should  creep  into  the  curriculum  that 
which  should  have  a  relation  to  out-of-school  existence. 
Education  has  by  some  been  considered  a  process,  by 
others  a  product.  Both  these  standards  are  inadequate 
because  both  fall  short  of  the  ultimate.  Education  is 
both  a  process  and  a  product.  The  process  alone  leads 
to  no  accomplished  result;  the  product  alone  means  form 
rather  than  character  or  content.  Only  as  he  of  the 
school  is  enabled  to  react  the  better  upon  society  because  of 
his  school  experiences,  are  these  experiences  to  be  reckoned 
in  terms  of  value. 

It  not  infrequently  happens  that  those  who  have  superior 


loo  Ideals   and   Democracy 

home  advantages  and  no  financial  handicap  suffer  most 
in  the  matter  of  a  real  schooling.  And  in  some  localities, 

in  order  to  take  advantage  of  the  best  things 

"vs."*  in  elementary  education,  a  boy  must  be  blind, 

public-school    or  (jeaf>  Or  dumb;  he  must  be  incorrigible  or 

a  criminal;  he  must  be  crippled,  or  maimed, 
or  a  pauper,  or  mentally  deficient.  In  other  words,  the 
State  provides  for  its  wards,  or  there  is  provided  for 
those  who  are  less  than  normal  —  physically,  morally, 
or  mentally — a  form  of  education  much  superior  to  that 
offered  many  of  our  normal  children.  The  reform  schools 
and  institutions  for  defectives  are  frequently  more  modem 
in  their  curricula  and  methods  than  are  some  of  the  public 
schools  with  which  you  are  familiar,  and  many  a  boy,  in 
order  to  gain  admission  to  the  former,  has,  of  his  own 
volition,  become  a  criminal.  Even  the  American  Indian, 
fettered  and  circumscribed  about  as  he  is,  and  cruel  and 
unjust  though  his  treatment  has  been  at  our  hands,  still 
is  offered  an  education  which,  unsuited  though  it  be  in 
many  respects  to  his  needs,  is  nevertheless  superior  to  that 
given  in  many  of  our  public  schools.  That  all  this  is  a 
sad  commentary  upon  the  character  and  efficiency  and 
adaptability  of  the  schools  need  only  be  suggested  here. 
Educational  standards  differ  widely  in  various  localities. 
The  unit  of  measure  is  not  constant,  or  rather  the  unit 

of  measure  in  one  locality  is  not  that  in  use 

m  another.  In  Illinois  they  speak  of  raising 
of  standard-  thirty-one  bushels  of  oats  to  the  acre,  in  Iowa 
.ing  i$eri  thirty-two  bushels  of  corn,  in  Minnesota  or 
California  so  many  bushels  of  wheat.  In  Texas  in  the 
old  days  they  produced  four  bales  of  cotton  to  the  mule. 
When  this  last  statement  is  analyzed,  you  find  that  the 
labor  of  a  negro  and  a  mule  for  .a  year  produced  four 
bales  of  cotton.  The  cotton  raisers  of  certain  sections 


A  More  Efficient  Scho:ol  101 

of  Texas  now  say  that  this  yield  of  four  bales  per  mule 
has  been  increased  one  hundred  per  cent  since  the  devel- 
opment of  expeiimental  and  scientific  farming.  As  one 
Texan  put  it  to  the  writer,  "The  Professor  Emeritus  of 
mossback,  antiquated  methods  must  be  displaced  by  the 
modern  farmer."  And  then  this  same  Texan  goes  on  to 
say  that  the  agricultural  and  mechanical  colleges,  together 
with  the  experiment  stations,  are  the  coming  institutions 
of  higher  learning  in  the  country,  their  work  being  far 
superior  to  that  of  the  traditional  college  or  university. 
These  latter,  he  contends,  are  not  responsible  for  advances 
even  though  "you  can't  throw  a  stone  but  you  will  hit  a 
college." 

Now  what  does  all  tms  mean?  It  would  be  manifestly 
narrow  and  unfair  to  say  that  the  Texan  is  right  in  his 

conception  of  the  "old  education."    He  is 

.     ,.  .  The  school 

right,  however,  in  his  contention  that  as  keen    must  give  an 

a  searchlight  should  be  turned  upon  the  product  account  of 
of  the  school  as  upon  the  negro  and  the  mule. 
If  the  labor  of  these  two  does  not  produce  eight  bales 
of  cotton,  an  investigation  takes  place  that  the  cause  may 
be  ascertained.  "You  can't  throw  a  stone  but  you  will 
hit  a  college,"  and  still  too  many  college-trained  men  are 
failing  every  day — men  who  go  out  from  college  carrying 
degrees  attesting  to  the  fact  of  their  incompetence  to  work 
outside  the  schoolroom.  These  college  graduates  are  of 
course  not  to  be  blamed  for  this,  as  in  the  schools  they 
are  not  taught  the  meaning  of  the  degrees.  They  learn 
to  do  many  things  poorly  rather  than  a  few  things  well, 
with  the  result  that  there  is  nothing  for  which  they  are 
thoroughly  fitted. 

Your  college-trained  man  ofttimes  cannot  foot  a  column 
of  figures  correctly,  although  he  has  had  years  of  arith- 
metic and  algebra  and  geometry,  not  to  speak  of 


".'•„ :  /64*: :"*•''•      Ideals   and   Democracy 


trigonometry,  calculus,  and  various  branches  of  higher 
mathematics.     He  is  unable  to  draw  up  a  paper  such  as 

is  demanded  in  the  most  common  business 
Noticeable  .  .  _._.  .  ,  t.  - 

weaknesses      transaction.     He  cannot  be  relied  upon  to 

in  college        compute  interest,  find  the  premium  on  an 
training  .  «•••,•  r 

insurance  policy,  determine  the  cost  of  pa- 
pering or  plastering  a  room,  or  to  perform  intelligently, 
accurately,  and  quickly  any  one  of  the  many  business 
problems  constantly  presenting  themselves.  He  may  at 
the  same  time  have  mastered  rules  and  formulae  governing 
mathematical  processes  that  will  be  needed  only  once  in 
a  lifetime. 

The  school  of  the  past  placed  its  stamp  of  approval 
upon  memory  processes  chiefly.  It  dealt  with  ideas 
Criticism  ra^ner  than  with  things.  It  trained  so-called 
on  the  faculties  rather  than  human  minds.  The 
old  school  definition  of  education  in  these  schools  was 
the  "harmonious  development  of  all  the  faculties,"  and 
when  we  hear  this  definition  given  to-day  it  comes  to 
us  as  a  voice  from  the  past.  The  old  schools  were  "his- 
torical mosaics."  In  them  subjects,  not  boys,  were  taught. 
A  knowledge  of  things  classical  was  the  element  of  chief 
importance.  Individuality  received  slight  consideration, 
and  the  teaching  was  done  en  masse. 

But  how  aptly  this  description  of  the  old  school  fits 
many  of  our  present-day  schools.  "Faculties  of  mind," 
The  child  and  ra^ner  than  individual  powers,  are  still  of 
the  machine:  main  concern.  Memory,  not  thought,  is 
a  comparison  trained  Children  are  taught  in  bulk,  the 
work  being  handed  out  to  them  without  regard  to  indi- 
vidual tastes,  or  needs,  or  capacities.  Just  as  a  bundle 
of  wheat  made  up  of  grain,  straw,  weeds,  and  various 
foreign  substances  is  fed  to  the  machine,  so  the  child  is 
given  good  and  poor  alike.  The  machine  eliminates  the 


A   More  Efficient  School  103 

waste;  the  boy  is  as  likely  to  retain  the  useless  as  the 
useful,  and  store  away  that  which  should  never  have  been 
given  him.  The  machine  is  the  object  of  care  and  atten- 
tion that  it  may  perform  its  functions  without  unneces- 
sary strain  or  friction;  the  boy  must  adjust  himself  as 
best  he  can  to  receive  and  assimilate  his  mental  doses 
and  react  from  their  effects. 

Charles  Mills  Gayley  says:  "Too  often  we  have 
reduced  literature  to  a  card  catalogue  and  history  to 
tissues  and  bones.  We  have  reasserted  the  creed  that 
learning  to  be  real  must  be  dark,  to  be  deep  must  be 
narrow.  We  have  multiplied  swells  and  slopes,  with 
never  a  view  in  sight.  We  have  invented  the  thesis. 
We  have  invented  the  thesis  that  cannot  survive  unless 
it  is  buried  in  footnotes." l 

While  there  is  in  many  respects  an  analogy  between 
the  school  of  the  past  and  that  of  to-day,  and  while, 
again,  progress  has  been  rapid  and  standards  and  ideals 
have  been  greatly  raised,  and  methods  and  results  have 
been  materially  increased,  we  have  still  some  things  to 
learn  from  the  old  school.  Education  in  past  time  came 
from  books,  but  the  books  were  few,  the  equipments 
meager,  the  courses  simple.  The  things  done  were 
usually  well  done.  Early  specialization  was  not  thought 
of,  and  much  attention  was  given  to  oral  expression,  to 
spelling,  to  mental  arithmetic,  to  legible  writing.  Many 
agree  with  the  "wise  ones"  that 

"The  three  R's  still  .  . 

Are  the  things  to  be  learned  by  our  youth  to-day; 
For  of  all  the  branches  taught,  the  pick 
Are  readin'  and  writin'  and  'rithmetic." 

To-day  all  is  different.    The  complexity  of  the  cur- 
riculum; the  multitude  of  studies  caused  by  division  of 
i  Idols  of  Education,  p.  108. 


104  Ideals   and   Democracy 

subjects  and  continual  additions  to  the  course  of  study; 
the  pressure  that  is  brought  to  bear  upon  each  grade  of 

school  by  the  one  next  above  to  accomplish 
Our  present  .  ...  ,  ,    .  .  /. 

school  condi-   an  impossible  amount  in  a  given  space  of 

tions  less  time;  the  nervous  strain  on  the  part  of  both 
teachers  and  taught,  resulting  from  the  high 
tension  under  which  the  school  is  constantly  working;  the 
many  outside  interests,  the  social  amenities,  the  societies, 
the  fraternities  and  sororities,  the  excessive  demands  in 
competitive  athletics  —  all  these  tend  to  superficial  think- 
ing, to  lack  of  thoroughness,  to  a  general  knowledge  of 
many  things  without  a  complete  grasp  of  anything. 
There  is  as  little  in  an  education  obtained  under  extreme 
conditions  of  this  sort  as  Lincoln  claimed  was  to  be 
found  in  the  speech  of  Douglas  in  the  famous  Alton 
debate,  which  he  said  contained  as  "little  substance  as 
soap  made  by  boiling  the  shadow  of  a  pigeon  that  had 
starved  to  death." 

Did  not  the  school  of  a  half-century  past,  crude  and 
undeveloped  though  it  was,  meet  the  demands  of  its 
The  school  ^^  an^  ?>enera^on  m  fuller  measure  than  the 
of  to-day  present-day  school  meets  the  demands  imposed 
preeminent  upon  it?  We  ^  not  seekjng  to  poinr  a  com. 

parison  between  the  educational  workshops  of  past  time 
and  those  of  the  present.  As  a  human  institution,  the 
present-day  school  is  far  and  away  the  best  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  But  that  the  old  school  was  in  many  respects 
better  adapted  to  the  ideals  of  its  own  times  than  is  the 
school  of  to-day  to  the  ideals  of  the  times  in  which  we 
live,  is  the  point  here  being  made.  In  other  words,  the 
school  seems  to  lack  power  of  adaptability  and  adjust- 
ment, and  adaptability  and  adjustment  mean  thorough- 
ness, and  thoroughness  means  efficiency. 

Before    there    was    division    of    labor,   and    before 


A   More  Efficient  School  105 

specialization  had  been  carried  to  its  extreme  limits,  every 
community  was  self-sustaining,  every  family  an  industrial 
unit,  every  individual  a  complete  thinking 
machine.  One  section  of  the  country  did  not  condiiionf: 
have  to  rely  upon  another  for  the  common  the  then  and 
necessities  of  life,  and  individual  was  not  as 
dependent  upon  individual  as  is  the  case  to-day.  From  the 
raw  material  to  the  finished  product  seemed  only  a  step, 
as  the  converting  process  was  accomplished  through  the 
aid  of  few  hands  and  no  intricate  machinery.  To-day  a 
shoe,  in  its  journey  from  the  raw  material  to  the  usable 
article,  often  passes  through  the  hands  of  threescore 
men;  while  our  fathers  wore  boots  made  entirely  by 
themselves,  from  the  tanning  of  the  hide  through  the 
various  subsequent  processes.  An  ordinary  writing  pen, 
from  the  time  it  is  stamped  from  the  sheet  of  metal 
until  it  passes  through  the  last  polishing  process,  has 
been  handled  by  two  dozen  persons;  but  a  quill,  shaped 
by  a  knife  blade,  sufficed  for  writing  Penn's  Treaty  and 
the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  watchword  then  of  the  school  of  our  fathers 
was  adaptability.  The  lesson  we  must  learn  from  the 
past,  if  our  education  is  to  meet  the  demands 
of  this  opening  century,  is  the  necessity  for 
an  adaptable  and  efficient  school.  Efficiency  ity  exempli- 
is  not  measured  by  what  a  man  knows  but  ^ec  lHpast 
by  what  he  can  do  with  what  he  knows.  It 
is  not  a  question  of  a  man's  brain  area  as  to  whether 
or  not  he  is  educated.  It  is  a  question,  rather,  of  how 
he  applies  his  brain  power.  Adaptability  is  the  lost 
chord  in  education.  We  are  constantly  spoiling  good 
mechanics  for  poor  clerks,  or  good  clerks  for  poor  clergy- 
men, or  are  converting  excellent,  agricultural  timber  into 
second-rate  politicians.  The  inefficiency  of  the  school 


io6  Ideals   and   Democracy 

drives  many  away,  or  gives  them  such  a  training  as  to 
render  them  only  indifferent  workers  in  the  various  fields 
they  seek  to  enter.  Too  often  it  fails  to  fit  them  to  enter 
any  trade,  profession,  or  calling,  and  they  are  thrown 
back  on  the  same  world  they  should  serve,  finally  to 
claim  from  it  that  which  they  say  it  owes  them — a  living. 

It  is  clear  that  the  curricula  of  elementary,  secondary, 
and  higher  educational  institutions  are  becoming  broader 
and  more  comprehensive  as  the  art  of  teaching  and  the 
science  of  education  develop.  The  tendency  is  to  con- 
sider the  school  more  and  more  from  the  social  side,  and 
courses  are  to  some  extent  being  fitted  to  the  learner 
rather  than  compelling  the  learner  to  conform  to  the 
courses  of  study.  But  for  the  most  part  we  continue 
to  cling  to  old  courses  and  methods  and  systems;  to 
conceptions  and  ideals  that  are  outgrown,  antiquated, 
moth-eaten;  that  do  not  meet  modern  conditions;  that 
are  as  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  our  present-day  civilization 
as  would  be  the  pony  express,  the  scythe  and  cradle,  the 
hand  printing  press,  or  the  tallow  candle. 

This  condition  of  non-adjustment  is  brought  about, 
first,  by  our  tenacity  in  holding  to  old  courses  of  study, 

dusty  with  ages  of  tradition  and  mildewed 
Conditions  ,  . 

making  for     by  decades  of  bigotry,  under  the  belief  that 

™?~  what  educated  our  fathers  will  educate  us; 

and  second,  because  of  the  excessive  growth 
of  courses  within  the  school.  In  the  institutions  of  ele- 
mentary grade  we  have  added  to  the  traditional  subjects 
physical  culture,  expression,  gymnastics,  drawing,  in- 
dustrial work  in  its  many  forms  for  both  boys  and  girls, 
domestic  science,  home  economics,  foreign  languages, 
elementary  algebra,  nature  study.  The  high-school 
problem  is  even  more  complicated,  for  while  the  college 
above  is  crowding  much  of  its  former  work  down  into 


A   More  Efficient  School  107 

the  high  school,  it  is  the  avowed  ambition  of  the  spe- 
cialists in  the  latter  institution  to  push  forward  various 
studies  to  the  third  and  fourth  years  of  the  high-school 
course.  Here  higher  mathematics,  the  sciences,  history, 
English,  and  the  languages  all  clamor  for  a  place.  To 
clear  the  atmosphere,  manual  training  and  industrial 
subjects  were  introduced,  but  instead  of  drawing  together 
the  various  humanities,  or  giving  an  industrial  bias  to 
the  school  idea,  these  industrial  subjects  are  frequently 
taught  along  parallel  lines  with  the  traditional  work. 
There  is  no  actual  articulation  of  book,  laboratory,  and 
shop  courses,  and  as  yet  there  is  no  complete  solution  of 
the  time  problem.  In  the  college,  the  university,  the  pro- 
fessional school,  an  intensive  knowledge  of  more  than  a 
narrow  field  is  an  impossibility,  owing  to  the  multiplicity 
of  subjects  and  the  extreme  division  of  subjects  into  many 
courses,  caused  by  the  growth  of  specialization,  the  de- 
velopment of  new  forms  of  knowledge,  the  application 
of  science  in  the  arts  and  industries,  and  the  creation  of 
new  fields  of  study  and  research. 

It  is  not  necessary,  even  though  it  were  possible,  to 
return  to  the  "good  old  days."  It  is  not  essential  that 
every  boy  and  every  girl  should  be  schooled 
in  all  the  processes  of  manufacture  of  a  coat  simplicity 
or  a  carriage.  The  argument  frequently  and  ric^nfye 
made  that  the  training  of  the  country  boy 
of  a  half -century  past  was  far  superior  in  every  way  to 
that  of  the  city  chap  of  to-day  must  not  be  forced  too 
far.  It  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  our  schools  too  often 
give  sanction  to  the  spendthrift  spirit  of  our  age,  and 
couple  with  their  progressive  tendency  the  superficial 
atmosphere  and  an  ambition  to  be  lavish  with  rather  than 
to  conserve  material.  They  teach  how  to  be  extravagant 
rather  than  how  to  be  economical.  As  Dean  Russell  so 


io8  Ideals   and   Democracy 

forcibly  puts  it,  the  modern  schools  should  ''teach  how  to 
live  better  on  less  and  have  something  over."  They  must 
return  to  the  older  days  to  the  extent  of  learning  from 
them  the  lesson  suggested  by  MacDonald,  where  he 
says,  "There  is  a  great  deal  more  to  be  got  out  of  things 
than  is  generally  got  out  of  them,  whether  the  thing  be 
a  chapter  in  the  Bible  or  a  yellow  turnip,  and  the  mar- 
vel is  that  those  who  use  the  most  material  should  so 
often  be  those  who  show  the  least  result  in  strength 
of  character."  1 

The  very  ideas  put  forward  by  those  who  sought  to 
wrench  the  present-day  school  from  the  grip  of  tradition 
have  been  too  often  perverted  and  misinterpreted.  "Soft 
pedagogies"  have  in  some  quarters  all  but  ruined  the 
schools.  "Interest"  and  " self-expression "  and  "initi- 
ative" have  been  twisted  and  warped  and  wrenched 
until  the  terms  are  no  longer  recognizable  in  their  new 
forms.  Old-time  discipline  has  been  lost  and  no  disci- 
pline is  often  the  substitute.  Reverence,  consideration 
for  others,  obedience,  courtesy,  generosity,  have  all  too 
frequently  given  place  to  arrogance,  incivility,  selfish- 
ness, and  perversity.  Thoroughness  and  efficiency  are 
lacking,  and  unless  the  school  adapts  itself  to  the  growing 
demands  of  the  age  it  will,  as  an  institution,  be  left  far 
behind  in  the  onward  march  of  civilization. 

Now  while  there  is  danger  of  carrying  specialization 
too  far  there  is  also  great  danger  of  being  too  rigid  in  our 

...  requirements,  unless  the  future  life  work  of 

Specialization:  Jt     .    -.   .  -     ,.      . 
its  value  the  individual  is  absolutely  determined.   And 

when  properly  because  we  insist  that  what  is  "sauce  for  the 

goose  is  sauce  for  the  gander,"  failures  are 

constantly  being  made  and  slipshod,  inefficient  work  is 

often  the  order  of  the  day.    Before  one  may  graduate 

i  Sir  Gibbie,  p.  8. 


A   More  Efficient  School  109 

from  the  ordinary  high  school  one  must,  willy-nilly,  be 
put  through  a  year  of  elementary  algebra  and  a  year  of 
plane  geometry.  It  frequently  happens  that  a  boy  or 
girl  is  not  mathematically  inclined  and  cannot  think 
in  terms  of  mathematics.  The  year's  work  is  a  failure, 
even  though  it  has  been  conscientiously  done,  and  a 
second  or  a  third  year  still  finds  the  student  at  the 
same  grind.  Tradition  has  it  that  every  one  should 
know  the  elements  at  least  of  algebra  and  geometry.  The 
student  may  go  to  a  college  that  demands  these  subjects 
for  entrance,  even  though  he  may  not  plan  to  do  so 
while  in  his  high-school  course.  Besides,  it  is  claimed 
that  the  study  of  mathematics  brings  to  the  student  a 
certain  kind  and  quality  of  mental  discipline  such  as  can 
be  had  through  the  study  of  no  other  subject.  This 
claim  is  based  upon  theory  rather  than  upon  any  tangi- 
ble evidence. 

Both  boys  ana  girls  are  constantly  failing,  and  are 
unhappy  in  their  school  life,  and  in  many  instances  drop 
out  entirely,  not  only  because  of  lack  of  prep-  .  selective 
aration  and  adaptability  but  because  of  their  process 

distaste  for  a  subject  in  which  they  have  no 
interest  and  the  application  of  which  to  their 
later  life  work  they  cannot  see.  Not  that  this  latter  would 
be  a  conclusive  argument  for  allowing  such  students  to  drop 
the  subject;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  unless  these  students 
go  to  college  this  mathematics  will  probably  have  little 
application  to  their  after-school  life.  In  any  event,  one 
year  of  such  subject  is  of  no  great  material  value  after  all. 
It  is  worth  no  more  than  would  be  one  year  only  of  a 
foreign  language.  That  girls  fail  less  frequently  than  do 
boys  in  the  study  of  algebra  is  no  argument  for  com- 
pelling the  non-college-going  girl  to  take  the  subject  if 
she  has  a  distaste  for  it,  as  girls  are  more  compliant  than 


no  Ideals   and   Democracy 

are  boys;  they  work  harder,  worry  more,  and  perhaps 
suffer  more  in  the  long  run.  The  field  of  mathematics 
is  here  drawn  upon  simply  to  make  clear  the  point  under 
consideration. 

That  all  desirable  knowledge  cannot  be  secured  in  the 
few  years  devoted  to  school  education  is  clear,  and  stand- 
ards of  scholarship  could  be  immeasurably  raised  were 
substitutions  more  freely  allowed  in  the  high  school. 
Practical  chemistry  and  applied  biology  would  frequently 
be  of  much  greater  value  to  girls  than  algebra  or  geom- 
etry, and  in  the  same  way  bookkeeping  and  business 
arithmetic  would  better  be  given  the  boys.  This  illus- 
tration is  used  only  as  a  suggestion  of  what  could  be  done 
in  extreme  cases.  Students  would,  under  these  conditions, 
do  more  satisfactory  work  and  remain  in  the  school  for 
a  longer  period  than  would  otherwise  be  the  case,  and 
would  accomplish  more  of  advantage  in  the  real  life  of  the 
home  or  of  the  business  world. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  that  the  present-day  education, 
to  be  effective,  must  be  practical  in  the  best  sense  of  that 
Value  of  term.  Many  a  girl  is  prevented  from  pursuing 
domestic  courses  in  domestic  science  or  in  some  other 
branch  of  home  economics,  in  schools  where 
such  courses  are  offered,  simply  because  of  the  number  of 
other  studies  demanded  for  graduation.  Any  girl  who 
desires  to  take  up  domestic  science  in  school  should  be 
permitted  to  do  so,  and  this  means  that  all  schools  should 
offer  such  courses.  Left  to  choose,  the  vast  majority  of 
boys  studying  arithmetic  in  the  upper  grammar  grades 
would  prefer  the  mathematics  offered  in  the  well-regulated 
commercial  department,  because  the  work  herein  given 
is  usable,  and  the  pupils  know  it. 

The  desire  to  fit  the  student  for  the  work  of  an  advanced 
grade  is  too  strong,  and  as  a  result  the  high-school  and 


A   More  Efficient  School  m 

elementary-school  courses  are  not  sufficiently  rounded  out 
or  complete  in  themselves.  All  along  the  line  the  work 
must  be  made  more  adaptable.  Schedules  Readjustment 
must  be  adjusted,  and  in  the  elementary,  the  vs.  total 
secondary,  the  higher  institutions,  the  un-  ******** 
necessary  must  be  eliminated.  All  subjects  are  honorable, 
and  one  should  hesitate  long  before  dropping  any  one 
entirely  from  the  curriculum.  What  is  needed  is  a  read- 
justment and  an  elimination  of  large  masses  of  material 
within  the  subjects  themselves,  thus  giving  opportunity 
for  broader  or  wiser  selection,  and  more  intensive  work 
upon  those  portions  of  subjects  studied.  As  Payne  points 
out,  the  fact  that  certain  studies  are  on  the  program 
of  so  many  schools  is  a  proof  of  partial  worth  at  least.1 
No  endeavor  should  be  made  to  eliminate  the  studies 
themselves,  as  every  subject  is  of  some  value  to  every 
individual,  but  by  change  and  modification  within 
subjects  a  much  more  serviceable  course  of  study  may 
be  arranged. 

Not  only  should  the  product  of  the  school  shape  and 
mold  his  environment,  but  we  must  recognize  that  the 
years  of  school  are  very  active  years  of  life.  During 
these  years  the  boy  and  girl  are  not  merely  learning  how 
to  live;  they  are  indeed  living.  And  during  these  years 
"Education,"  as  John  Ruskin  says,  "does  not  mean 
teaching  people  what  they  do  not  know.  It  means  teach- 
ing them  to  behave  as  they  do  not  behave.  It  is  not 
teaching  the  youth  the  shapes  of  letters  and  the  tricks 
of  numbers  and  then  leaving  them  to  turn  their  arith- 
metic to  roguery  and  their  literature  to  lust.  It  is,  on 
the  contrary,  training  them  into  the  perfect  exercise  and 
kingly  continence  of  their  bodies  and  souls.  It  is  a 
painful,  continual,  and  difficult  work,  to  be  done  by 

i  Public  Elementary  School  Curricula,  p.  181. 


Ideals   and   Democracy 

kindness,  by  watching,  by  warning,  by  precept  and  by 
praise,  but  above  all  by  example." 1 

Criticism  alone  will  never  result  in  an  improved  con- 
dition of  the  schools.  The  foregoing  pages  set  forth  a 
statement  of  the  educational  situation  as  it  actually  is  at 
its  weakest  point,  and  offer  a  suggestion  of  the  lessons  to 
be  drawn  from  the  school  of  a  half-century  past  rather 
than  being  an  arraignment  of  present  methods  and 
results.  We  may  well  pause  and  ask  ourselve  the  follow- 
ing questions: 

Are  our  public  schools  on  the  highroad  to  perdition? 
Is  education  out  of  step  with  the  social  and  economic 
progress  of  *the  time  ?  Are  teachers  incompetent,  super- 
intendents mere  politicians,  school  boards  dishonest? 
Are  courses  of  study  antiquated  and  teaching  methods 
moth-eaten?  Are  our  elementary  schools  conducted 
solely  in  the  interest  of  those  who  are  to  go  to  high  school  ? 
Are  our  universities  and  higher  institutions  of  learning 
still  dominating  the  high  school,  and  dictating  as  to  text- 
books, requirements  for  graduation,  and  personnel  of  the 
teaching  body  ?  If  the  public  school  is  to-day  in  this  pre- 
dicament then  indeed  are  the  times  "out  of  joint,"  and 
our  educational  system  in  sad  and  sorry  plight.  What, 
then,  is  the  situation;  what  the  remedy? 

Month  after  month  we  see  in  the^educational  magazines, 
general  periodicals,  and  newspapers  one  long,  continuous 
Destructive  wa^  °^  t^ie  weaknesses,  the  shortcomings,  the 
criticism  crimes,  the  heresies  of  the  modern  system  of 
not  helpful  educatioiL  The  tales  that  are  told  through 

the  columns  of  the  press  and  the  word  pictures  painted 
from  many  a  platform  are  startling  if  true.  Surely  in 
another  decade  we  shall  all  become  pessimistic,  dis- 
couraged, disheartened,  and  leave  the  schools  in  the 
i  Crown  of  Wild  Olives,  Section  144. 


A   More  Efficient  School  113 

hands  of  those  who  see  only  failure  and  ruin  for  those 
who  continue  through  and  beyond  the  grades;  and  ruin 
and  failure  for  those  who,  at  the  first  opportunity,  go  to 
do  battle  in  the  world  of  men  and  things. 

The  truth  is  it  has  become  fashionable  to  growl  at  the 
shortcomings  of  our  school  system.  Some  severe  criti- 
cisms have  been  made  on  the  "unrealness"  of  present-day 
education.  Our  educational  scheme  is  inadequate,  our 
methods  less  than  perfect,  our  equipments  not  of  the 
best,  our  standards  for  teachers  not  all  that  could  be 
hoped.  Even  so,  have  our  economic  and  social,  our 
industrial  and  commercial,  institutions  reached  that  high 
plane  of  efficiency  where  no  further  progress  is  possible? 
In  point  of  fact,  all  our  institutions — church,  society, 
home,  and  the  commercial  organizations  as  well — are  less 
progressive  than  could  be  desired.  And  let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  it  is  only  recently  that  society  in  general  has 
come  to  believe  in  efficiency.  Frequently  the  principle 
of  efficiency  in  organization  and  administration  has  first 
been  worked  out  in  education  and  has  later  found  appli- 
cation in  local,  municipal,  or  state  institutions. 

Those  who  to-day  are  making  the  loudest  outcry 
against  present-day  education  are  not  fully  alive  to  the 
tremendous  accomplishments  educational-  jjnsatisfactory 
wise  of  the  past  few  years.  Then,  too,  those  conditions 
who  complain  loudest  frequently  contribute 
least  toward  the  betterment  of  undesirable 
conditons.  Did  they  study  carefully  the  landmarks  of 
history  they  would  observe  that  lasting  changes  are 
brought  about  slowly  and  by  degrees.  We  must  not 
be  complacent  or  self-satisfied.  Every  thinking  member 
of  the  teaching  profession  knows  full  well  that  there  are 
many  weaknesses  in  our  schools.  Many  of  our  teachers 
and  administrators  the  country  over  are  striving  to  better 


114  Ideals   and   Democracy 

the  conditions.  Little  by  little,  courses  of  study  are 
being  modified  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  individual  boy 
and  girl.  Slowly  but  surely,  the  standards  of  teaching 
are  being  raised;  teachers  are  touching  elbows  with  life, 
and  what  was  once  a  craft  is  coming  to  be  a  profession. 
Education  to-day  is  a  science,  teaching  an  art.  Methods 
are  more  modern  than  they  formerly  were,  school- 
books  are  more  interesting  and  less  slavishly  followed, 
equipments  more  varied  and  valuable,  and  politics  and 
corruption  less  frequent.  The  school  reaches  a  larger 
percentage  of  pupils  than  ever  before,  and  the  school 
life  of  individuals  is  greater.  Criticize  as  you  will  the 
school  of  to-day,  there  was  never  a  time  since  the  dawn 
of  civilization  when  education  was  so  far-reaching  and  the 
school  so  efficient. 

Is  the  primary  school  conducted  only  in  the  interest 
of  those  who  go  into  the  high  school?  What  of  the 
courses  in  the  grades  in  applied  art  and  design,  in  indus- 
trial work,  in  home  economics,  in  physical  education,  in 
hygiene  and  health  studies,  in  agriculture,  in  moral  and 
humane  training,  in  world-peace  movements,  in  literary 
appreciation,  in  music,  in  biography,  in  self-government, 
in  social  service,  and  in  geography,  history,  commerce,  and 
travel  through  the  stereopticon  and  the  moving  picture! 
And  all  over  the  land  there  are  universities  gladly  accord- 
ing recognition  for  any  high-school  subject  successfully 
completed.  More  than  this,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  efficiency  of  a  system  of  education  depends  not 
alone  upon  meeting  the  needs  of  the  individual  boy  and 
girl;  it  is  conditioned  as  well  upon  the  total  number 
reached,  whatever  the  length  of  time  the  participants 
may  remain  under  instruction.  A  college  education  is  as 
common  to-day  as  was  a  high-school  education  in  the 
days  of  our  fathers. 


A   More  Efficient  School  1/5 

In  tfce  rural  school  a  new  note  has  been  struck.  Here 
efficiency  is  demanded  as  well  as  in  the  city  school. 
Enlarged  grounds,  improved  buildings,  sanitary  surround- 
ings, better  libraries  and  appliances,  a  more  thoroughly 
equipped  teaching  force,  is  the  order  of  the  day.  Super- 
vision is  closer  and  more  profitable,  salaries  on  the 
increase,  the  movement  for  retirement  provision  steadily 
gaining  headway.  And  in  institutes,  conventions,  and 
meetings  slowly  but  surely  the  trend  is  from  the  super- 
ficial to  the  sane. 

Disraeli  wisely  said  that  it  is  "easier  to  criticize  than  to 
correct."  It  does  not  require  genius  to  tear  down.  The 
school  to-day  is  crying  aloud  for  builders — those  who 
can  construct  upon  an  already  well-laid  foundation  a 
superstructure  that  shall  be  sane  and  sound.  Teachers 
need  to  be  heartened,  not  dismayed.  Let  the  voice  and 
pen  of  the  calamity  howler  be  used  to  encourage  and 
uplift.  Let  no  one  dare  criticize  and  destroy  only  as  a 
substitute  is  offered — one  better  adapted  to  meet  the 
demands  of  a  developing  people. 

Weak  spots  there  are,  many  of  them.  We  need  more 
and  better  teachers.  We  need  higher  professional  stand- 
ards. We  need  particular  curricula  for  par-  The  call  for 
ticular  conditions.  We  need  schools  that  fit  construc- 
tor life  and  its  manifold  problems.  We  need 
vocational  bureaus  and  experts  to  keep  boys  and  girls 
from  entering  the '  'blind-alley"  occupations  for  which  they 
are  not  fitted  and  in  which  advancement  is  impossible. 
We  need  to  apply  everywhere  the  principle  of  efficiency. 

The  school  needs  men  and  women  who  are  not  satisfied 
with  present  conditions.  It  needs  those  with  moral  stam- 
ina who  are  not  afraid  to  cry  out  against  existing  evils. 
It  needs  at  the  same  time  men  and  women  who  are  not 
blind  to  the  accomplishments  of  present-day  education 


n6  Ideals   and  Democracy 

and  who  with  clear  vision,  broad  outlook,  and  large  op- 
timism are  ready  to  make  onward  for  a  more  efficient 
school.  It  needs  men  and  women  sufficiently  brave  and 
progressive  to  acknowledge  the  good  in  the  educational 
system  of  yesterday  and  to  work  toward  an  improved  to- 
morrow. It  needs  men  and  women  who  can  hitch  the 
curriculum  to  the  community,  can  make  of  the  school- 
room a  workshop,  and  bring  factory  and  forge  and  office 
into  close  communion  with  the  home  and  the  school. 

Such  are  the  men  and  women  we  need.  Such  are  the 
demands  we  make  for  a  more  efficient  school.  Men  and 
women  to  produce  such  a  school  must  be  as  ready  to 
praise  as  to  blame;  must  construct,  not  destroy.  Where 
they  tear  down  they  must  build  again.  And  if  from  our 
leaders  there  is  not  forthcoming  that  help  and  inspira- 
tion to  take  us  out  of  bondage,  to  whom  shall  we  turn? 

How  then  shall  the  schools  be  made  to  meet  more  nearly 
the  demands  of  the  present  day — demands  growing  out 
of  economic,  social,  and  industrial  conditions,  not  only 
differing  widely  from  those  in  vogue  a  half -century  past 
but  vastly  changed  from  those  pertaining  less  than  a 
decade  ago? 

First:  By  emphasizing  early  specialization  less,  and  by 
laying  a  strong  general  groundwork  upon  which  the  spe- 
cialty may  later  be  built  with  safety.  This  may  mean 
the  placing  of  greater  emphasis  than  at  present  upon 
specialization  at  the  proper  period. 

Second:  By  considering  each  school,  whether  elemen- 
tary, secondary,  or  other  type,  an  institution  in  and  of 
itself,  not  simply  a  fitting  school  for  the  one  above.  Even 
the  various  years  or  grades  of  school  must  be  looked 
upon  as  complete  units.  This  does  no  violence  to  the 
other  consideration  that  from  the  kindergarten  through 


A   More  Efficient  School  HJ 

the  university  the  school  system  should  be  so  many  con- 
secutive years  of  work  with  no  breaks  from  first  to  last. 
It  simply  means  that  a  pupil  must  find  in  any  grade 
or  year  that  which  meets  his  needs  at  a  particular  period 
of  his  development. 

Third:  Teachers  must  realize  the  value  of  subjects 
other  than  their  own,  providing  for  adequate  considera- 
tion of  each  subject,  and  recognizing  relative  values  and 
individual  worths. 

Fourth:  While  certain  subjects  are  to  be  required  of 
all,  and  this  especially  within  definite  courses  or  depart- 
ments, substitutions  for  such  requirements  may,  under 
conditions,  be  freely  allowed. 

Fifth:  Time  must  be  gained  through  the  process  of 
elimination  not  of  subjects  but  of  portions  of  subjects. 
The  selective  process  must  be  used  constantly,  owing  to 
the  rapid  growth  of  subjects  and  the  increasingly  great 
amount  of  desirable  educational  material. 

Sixth :  The  work  must  be  made  more  thorough  than  at 
present.  Superficial  thinking  and  superficial  doing  must 
be  displaced  by  thorough,  conscientious,  intensive  thought 
and  action.  The  textbook  must  be  used  less,  the  formal 
giving  place  to  real,  thought-provoking  exercise.  The 
pupil  must  be  required  to  work  out  his  own  salvation, 
and  each  individual  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  separate 
entity,  demanding  special  consideration  and  with  a  devel- 
oping personality  distinctly  his  own. 

The  schools  will,  under  these  conditions,  be  made 
more  efficient,  and  will  become  better  adjusted  to  meet 
the  imperative  and  exacting  demands  of  a  critical  and  a 
progressive  people. 

While  there  are  none  among  us  sufficiently  wis6  to 
dogmatically  proclaim  this  or  that  system  of  education 
the  absolutely  true  one,  we  are  sure  that,  with  all  its 


n8  Ideals   and   Democracy 

shortcomings,  our  general  scheme  of  education  in  America 
is  undoubtedly  superior  to  that  found  to  exist  elsewhere 
throughout  the  world.  While  we  may  not  say  that  this 
and  this  only  shall  be  taught,  we  may  ask  ourselves  the 
question:  What  is  the  duty  of  the  school  and  of  the 
teacher  ?  Is  it  not  to  teach  boys  and  girls,  young  men  and 
young  women,  how  to  do  their  own  thinking?  Must  not 
the  school  and  the  teacher  give  the  necessary  educational 
stimulus,  the  mental  momentum,  and  then  leave  the  solu- 
tion of  the  great  problems  to  the  pupils  themselves? 

Education  as  a  science  is  developing;  teaching  as  a 
fine  art  is  being  comprehended;  the  school  as  an  insti- 
tution is  beginning  to  serve  the  people  as  never  before. 
We  are  moving  forward. 


CHAPTER   VIII 
VOCATIONAL   ADJUSTMENT 

NO  subject  is  making  a  stronger  appeal  to  the  country 
at  large  than  that  of  vocational  adjustment.  It 
is  only  in  very  recent  years  that  there  has  been  any 
attempt  to  assist  the  boy  or  girl  in  the  choosing  of  a  voca- 
tion or  calling.  Indeed,  the  beginning  has  The 
hardly  yet  been  made.  In  the  past  the  eld-  apprentice- 
est  son  has  frequently  carried  on  his  father's  ship  $ystem 
work.  This  has  been  done  regardless  of  aptitude  or  desire 
on  the  part  of  the  boy  or  of  opportunities  offered  in  the 
given  field  of  activity.  Under  the  old  apprenticeship 
system  the  boy  was  handed  over  to  the  tradesman,  and, 
after  several  years  of  grind,  was  expected  to  come  out  of 
this  school  of  hard  knocks,  an  adept.  Usually  the  boy 
had  no  voice  in  selecting  the  line  of  work  he  was  to 
follow.  The  choice  had  been  made  by  the  father  with- 
out regard  to  capacity  or  temperament;  and  the  oppor- 
tunity for  advance  in  the  craft  chosen  was  no  more  an 
element  in  the  equation  than  was  that  of  a  survey  of  the 
local  field.  In  any  event  the  boy,  without  expert  guid- 
ance, would  be  unlikely  to  choose  wisely,  even  if  permitted 
to  select  his  future  work. 

For  three  decades  the  manual-training  high  school  and 
the  trade  school  have  been  occupying  opposite  Trade 

sides  of  the  educational  arena.    The  avowed     teaching  vs. 
purpose  of  manual  training  in  the  high  school      educ^^s 
has  been  for  all-round  development.     It  has 
been  declared  to  be  educational  in  character.    Those  in 

up 


120  Ideals   and   Democracy 

charge  of  such  schools  have  been  careful  to  have  it  under- 
stood that  trades  were  not  taught,  and  somehow  there 
grew  up  the  idea  that  to  learn  a  trade  was  beneath  the 
dignity  of  those  who  could  afford  to  attend  public  or 
private  high  schools. 

On  their  side,  the  trade  schools  were  narrow  and 
restricted.  As  the  work  of  the  manual-training  school  was 
general  and  desultory  and  led  nowhere  in  particular,  so 
the  trade-school  work  was  one-sided.  All  the  richness 
and  culture  were  squeezed  out,  and  only  the  dry  husks 
of  technique  were  left.  And  the  trade  school  offered  to 
an  individual  pupil  work  in  a  particular  line  only. 

With  the  change  in  educational  thought  that  has  come 
upon  us  in  the  last  half -score  years  there  has  developed 
an  understanding  that  manual  training,  as  generally 
taught,  is  not  necessarily  industrial  education,  and  that 
the  old  form  of  apprentice  or  trade-school  work  is  not 
vocational  in  the  broader  and  truly  educational  sense. 
We  have  come  to  know  that  what  is  vocational  in  the 
proper  meaning  of  the  term  is  truly  cultural,  and  that 
there  is  no  divorce  between  culture  and  accomplishment. 

To  work  with  tools  in  the  shop  or  with  materials  at 
the  domestic-science  table  in  the  laboratory  does  not 
necessarily  imply  a  training  vocational  in  character. 
Work  to  be  truly  vocational  must  point  toward  a  definite 
end.  In  other  words,  the  pupil  does  not  merely  make  or 
construct  from  a  so-called  educational  viewpoint;  there 
must  be  motive  underlying  the  effort. 

Hundreds  of  boys  and  girls  are  leaving  our  schools  at 
the  close  of  the  compulsory  school  age  and  are  going 
directly  into  trades  and  pursuits  for  which  they  are  by 
temperament  totally  unfitted.  Moreover,  no  amount  of 
training  would  render  many  of  these  capable  of  promotion 
in  their  fields  of  endeavor  or  give  to  them  the  capacity 


Vocational  Adjustment  121 

to  enjoy  their  work.    The  necessity  of  earning  a  livelihood 
or  the  desire  to  help  support  the  family  forces  many  of 
these  into  wrong  channels.     In  numerous  in- 
stances they  are  dissatisfied  with  the  school,     leading 
or  have  no  appreciation  of  the  significance  of  non~ 

an  education.  They  can  look  no  farther  than  ad^U5tment 
to  the  immediate  future.  Again,  they  are  lured  by  false 
notions  of  independence.  They  desire  to  be  self-support- 
ing. The  prevailing  tendency  toward  extravagance  in 
dress,  even  among  young  people,  is  a  considerable  ele- 
ment here.  The  well-dressed  young  man,  working  for  a 
living  wage  merely,  is  the  ideal  of  the  younger  boy. 
The  new  hat  or  tasteful  gown  worn  by  the  girl  behind 
the  counter  rouses  envy  in  the  soul  of  the  girl  in  school. 
That  the  girl  behind  the  counter  is  poorly  nourished  and 
out  of  tune  with  her  daily  occupation  is  not  understood 
by  the  former.  This  condition  at  times  leads  boys  and 
girls  to  take  at  a  pitiably  low  wage  the  first  job  that 
offers.  They  find  when  too  late  the  difficulties  of  read- 
justment. Such  positions  and  jobs  prove  often  nothing 
more  or  less  than  "dead-end "  or  "blind-alley"  occupations, 
and  there  is  constantly  coming  up  to  us  the  moan  of  the 
"misfit."'"  In  many  instances  the  position,  which  at  the 
moment  promises  the  most  in  salary,  is  the  least  satis- 
factory for  the  reason  that  it  leads  simply  into  a  "blind 
alley."  In  the  beginning  the  salary  may  be  adequate  to 
support  the  young  man  or  woman.  Later  in  life,  when 
larger  draft  is  made  in  a  financial  way,  no  outlook  for 
increased  salary  appears,  and  the  ability  of  the  employees 
does  not  warrant  their  employers  in  promoting  them  to 
superior  positions  at  more  lucrative  compensation.  We 
have  thus  a  large  army  of  so-called  "unemployables." 

Did  these  young  people  take  the  long  look;  did  their 
parents,  their  teachers,  or  other  advisers  help  them  to 


122  Ideals   and   Democracy 

understand  the  dangers  to  come  from  lack  of  vocational 
adjustment;  were  they  led  to  see  how  in  the  end  time 
and  money  could  be  saved  by  proper  placement,  many 
young  people  would  remain  in  school  for  a  longer  time. 
Not  alone  is  this  adjustment  needed  in  the  large  cities, 
but  in  the  towns  and  rural  communities  as  well.  Girls 
as  well  as  boys  must  receive  due  consideration. 

Vocational  guidance,  so  called,  must  be  in  the  nature 
of  adjustment  of  the  individual  to  his  life  \\iork.  To-day 
the  choice  of  a  vocation  is  due  largely  to  accident.  It 
is  a  case  of  the  "blind  leading  the  blind."  In  many 
instances  little  choice  is  exercised  by  any  one.  The 
boy  simply  "drops  into"  a  place.  There  is  no  study 
of  vocational  opportunities.  Many  American  fathers, 
especially  mechanics  and  tradesmen,  or  those  who  have 
risen  from  poverty  to  plenty,  strongly  advise  their  sons 
against  following  the  father's  trade  or  calling.  Endeavor 
is  not  made  to  ascertain  if  the  boy  be  fitted  for  the  work, 
as  many  times  he  is.  The  workingman  believes  his  son 
should  not  be  compelled  to  work  as  he  worked  and  urges 
him  into  a  profession  in  which  in  later  years  he  may  prove 
a  misfit. 

Men  and  women  must  be  schooled  in  essential  lines 
in  order  to  properly  assist  these  young  people.  Every 
large  school  or  system  of  schools  should  be  provided  with 
competent  men  and  women  whose  business  it  is  to  coun- 
sel not  alone  with  those  now  in  the  school  but  also  with 
those  outside,  looking  toward  a  better  adjustment.  With 
proper  vocational  guidance,  with  some  one  to  study  the 
abilities,  aptitudes,  and  desires  of  the  individual,  to  know 
intensively  the  industrial  and  economic  conditions  in  the 
local  environment,  the  individual  may  be  directed  into  the 
most  desirable  channels. 

But  inability  to  advance  financially  is  not  the  only 


Vocational  Adjustment  123 

disadvantage  under  which  the  misfits  later  find  themselves. 
The  pleasure  and  satisfaction  which  is  the  rightful  portion 
of  every  individual,  these  misfits  never  get  out  of  life. 
With  an  equal  wage  and  even  a  longer  working  day  in  a 
more  arduous  task  but  withal  a  task  for  which  the  indi- 
vidual is  fitted,  the  work  will  be  a  joy  where  before  it  was 
drudgery.  Temperament  and  training  are  considerable 
factors  here. 

For  proper  training  must  make  humans  as  well  as 
machines.  The  "refined  pleasures  of  life"  find  all  too 
little  place,  whether  with  man  or  master,  and  no  one  is 
properly  adjusted  to  his  vocation  who  does  not  find  mixed 
with  the  cares,  the  responsibilities,  and  the  weariness  of 
his  day's  work  that  eminent  joy  and  satisfaction  which, 
after  all,  make  the  work  worth  while.  It  is  a  crime  to 
simply  provide  operatives  for  industrial  machines,  for- 
getting that  a  deeper  and  more  fundamental  obligation 
is  that  occupational  adjustment  that  prepares  for  the 
vocation  of  living. 

This  brings  us  at  once  to  the  proposition  that  adjust- 
ment must  be  along  the  literary  and  traditional  lines 
as  well  as  in  the  industrial  phases.    There  is 
danger,  in  this  industrial  age,  of  experts  and     humanities 


enthusiasts  "going  to  seed"  on  the  necessity 

for  purely  industrial  work.     Those  who  speak       '    Corker 

of    vocational    education    usually    think    in 

terms  of  brick  and  mortar  and  stone  and  steel,  of  building 

materials,  of  industrial  projects,  of  occupations  of  the 

trade,  of  traffic,  of  commerce.     And  to  the  rank  and  file 

vocational  adjustment  signifies  an  adjustment  to  indus- 

trial occupations  only.     Never  must  we  lose  sight  of  the 

value  of  literature,   and  history,   and  music,  and  art. 

Those  finer  qualities  of  the  mind  to  which  the  best  in 

literature  makes  its  appeal  are  essential  to  complete 


124  Ideals   and   Democracy 

living.  They  are  of  even  greater  necessity  to  the  day 
laborer  than  to  the  king  of  finance  or  the  man  of  leisure. 
The  proper  employment  of  the  leisure  hours  of  the 
laboring  classes  is  one  of  the  most  vital  and  perplexing 
problems  with  which  we  have  to  deal. 

Lives  grow  lean  and  dwarfed  when  cut  off  from  the 
refining  flavor  of  poetry  and  music.  Books  are  not  all, 
but  the  qualities  of  soul  and  sense  cannot  grow  upon  the 
daily  newspaper  alone.  The  man  of  toil  must  have  lei- 
sure hours,  and  the  taste  for  literature  and  pictures  and 
music  and  nature  will  bring  pleasure  to  the  worker  and 
contentment  to  the  home.  The  man  of  literary  tastes 
and  tendencies,  and  the  employer,  need  just  as  much  a 
first-hand  touch  with  tools  and  materials,  that  their  leisure 
hours  may  be  healthfully  employed,  and  that  they  may 
gain  the  viewpoint  of  the  laborer  and  be  in  sympathetic 
relations  with  him. 

For  it  is  not  alone  those  who  labor  at  forge  and  factory 
who  are  misfits.  It  is  not  only  the  callings  and  the  crafts 
that  furnish  blind-alley  occupations.  Many 
adjustment  a  congregation  suffers  long  and  acutely  un- 
applied  der  the  administrations  of  a  spiritual  adviser 
professions  w^°  cnose  a  profession  neither  wisely  nor 
well.  Careful  study  and  expert  guidance 
would  have  produced  of  the  clergyman  a  mechanic  or 
statesman  of  the  highest  order.  There  are  lawyers  who 
should  be  farmers  and  engineers  who  should  be  printers; 
and  teachers  there  are,  or  rather  those  who  are  drawing 
teachers'  salaries,  conscientious  and  scholarly,  who,  under 
proper  placement  at  an  early  age,  would  now  be  engaged 
in  other  occupations  to  the  peace  of  mind  of  pedagogue, 
of  pupil,  and  of  parent. 

There  are  four  fundamental  factors  underlying  this  whole 
matter  of  vocational  interpretation  and  adjustment  that 


Vocational  Adjustment 

here  must   receive   consideration.     They  are,  first,  the 
dominant  interests  of  the  child;  second,  the  economic 
condition  of  the  family  of  which  the  child  is 
a  part;  third,  the  occupational  opportunities 
offered  in  the  given  locality;  and  fourth,  con- 
sideration for  the  future  prospects  and  needs  of  the 
community,  and  the  country  at  large. 

In  considering  the  dominant  interests  of  the  child  let 
the  distinction  be  drawn  as  between  vocational  education 
and  vocational  adjustment.  Vocational  edu-  The 

cation  is  specific  education,  and  this  should  dominant 
not  be  emphasized  at  too  early  an  age.  Voca-  interests 
tional  adjustment  implies  a  study  of  tendencies  and 
capacities;  a  seeking  after  dominant  interests  and  the 
developing  of  these  possibilities  and  interests.  In  a 
modern  school,  working  under  a  rational  course  of  study, 
all  pupils  may  be  given  a  thorough  grounding  in  funda- 
mentals while  at  the  same  time  giving  due  consideration 
to  these  dominant  interests  of  the  individuals.  It  is 
claimed,  and  with  absolute  justice,  that  the  individual 
should  be  kept  pliable;  that  he  should  be  educated  in 
such  fashion  that  without  serious  inconvenience  or  with- 
out loss  of  energy  or  time  he  may,  should  occasion  require, 
pass  from  one  occupation  to  another.  This  ability  pre- 
supposes a  general  rather  than  a  special  training  in  early 
life.  All  of  this  may  still  be  brought  about  through 
general  education  in  the  fundamentals — an  education 
that  is  as  essential  to  the  clerk  as  to  the  clergyman,  to 
the  plowman  as  to  the  painter.  But  the  study  of  these 
fundamentals  in  schools  need  not  be  pursued  at  the  ex- 
pense of  work  that  makes  its  appeal  to  the  particular 
child.  And  these  fundamentals  afford  one  of  the  channels 
through  which  the  work  of  vocational  adjustment  is  to 
be  carried  on. 


126  Ideals   and   Democracy 

When  thoroughly  developed,  any  plan  for  adequate 
vocational  adjustment  must  begin  at  an  early  age — per- 
haps with  the  child's  first  years  at  school.  An  excellent 
start  has  been  made  in  the  establishment  of  vocational 
courses  in  certain  high  schools,  and  in  pre-vocational 
courses  in  grammar  or  intermediate  schools.  In  the 
light,  however,  of  what  has  been  said  of  the  necessity  for 
enriching  and  humanizing  the  vocational  work,  let  me 
hazard  the  statement  that  the  work  of  vocational  guid- 
ance should  begin  in  the  first  school  years.  It  is  not 
enough  to  say  that  there  is  danger  from  early  specializa- 
tion; that  mistakes  will  be  made  if  at  too  tender  an  age 
the  life  work  of  the  boy  or  girl  be  determined.  Whether 
we  will,  or  not,  these  boys  and  girls  leave  school  and 
enter  fields  that  later  prove  unproductive  and  distaste- 
ful. Under  the  best  system  mistakes  will  be  made;  it  is 
a  question  of  producing  the  least  number  of  misfits. 

If  the  interests  of  the  boy  change,  the  work  of  the  school 
must,  in  a  measure,  adapt  itself  to  the  boy.  The  sooner 
the  dominant  interest  takes  a  new  direction  the  sooner 
will  those  who  watch  the  development  of  the  individual 
be  able  to  eliminate  methods  and  materials  that  point  in 
the  wrong  direction. 

Visits  must  be  made  with  the  young  children  to  factory 
and  mine  and  mill;  to  store  and  print  shop  and  drafting 
room;  to  art  gallery  and  shipyard  and  can- 
excursions  nerv;  to  justice  court,  and  bank,  and  dairy 
farm ;  to  library  and  bindery  and  lighting  plant. 
These  experiences  the  child  needs  as  a  working  background 
to  help  him  apply  the  knowledge  he  gains  at  home  and 
at  school.  Records  must  be  kept  of  these  visits;  of  tend- 
encies noted  and  of  desires  expressed,  just  as  records  are 
kept  in  history  or  arithmetic  or  science.  And  when  a 
dominant  interest  is  found,  there  must  be  thrown  around 


Vocational  Adjustment  127 

the  boy  or  girl  opportunities  for  further  development,  not 
with  a  view  of  narrowing  the  vision  or  compelling  early 
decision.  Under  these  conditions  the  boy  or  girl  will  the 
sooner  show  a  "sagging  back"  and  a  drooping  interest 
that  might  otherwise  be  years  in  cropping  to  the  surface. 
This  fitting  of  the  course  of  study  to  the  pupil  will  result 
in  a  more  rational  course  of  study  than  we  now  have.  It 
will  further  react  in  keeping  pupils  in  school,  and  lessen 
the  number  of  those  who  for  one  reason  and  another  drop 
back  from  class  to  class,  or  leave  the  school  entirely. 
Enlightened  vocational  interpretation  and  a  correspond- 
ing enrichment  in  the  courses  of  study  will -do  more  than 
all  other  forces  combined  to  produce  efficiency  in  school 
from  kindergarten  to  university.  The  aptitudes  and  de- 
sires as  exemplified  by  the  boy  through  his  school  studies, 
while  of  the  greatest  importance,  leave  out  of  account 
elements  of  the  highest  significance.  The  out-of -school 
life  of  the  boy  and  girl,  when  watched  and  directed,  fur- 
nish criteria  for  wise  conclusions.  The  playtime  of  the 
boy  finds  him  natural  and  free  from  restraint.  In  his 
play  the  boy  exhibits  tendencies  and  possibilities  other- 
wise unknown  to  either  himself  or  his  associates.  In 
his  plays  and  games,  in  his  out-of-school  life  generally, 
in  his  reading,  may  ofttimes  be  found  the  key  to  future 
accomplishment.  School  and  home  life  must  cooperate, 
and  the  parents  must  report  to  the  school,  as  now  the 
school  reports  to  the  parent. 

We  shall  soon  come  +o  know,  therefore,  that  this  guid- 
ance is  to  begin  at  an  early  age;  that  the  dominant 
interests  of  the  child  are  to  be  studied;  that  every  oppor- 
tunity is  to  be  offered  for  the  change  of  this  dominant 
interest.  And  withal,  the  tendencies  of  the  pupil  as  exhib- 
ited through  his  literature,  his  history  and  biography,  his 
art,  his  music,  his  play,  his  out-of-school  visits,  must  be 


128  Ideals    and   Democracy 

as  closely  watched  and  fostered  as  are  those  tendencies 
pointing  industrialward. 

The  second  factor,  that  of  the  economic  condition  of  the 
family,  demands  serious  consideration.     Generally  speak- 
ing, we  may  assume  that  the  boy  or  girl  coming 

from  a  home  below  the  normal  financial  level 
will  be  unable  to  take  advantage  of  more  than 
a  grammar-school  education.  Where  the  circumstances 
of  the  family  are  such  that  the  child  is  needed  to  help  in 
its  support,  we  may  expect  boys  and  girls  to  leave  school 
at  the  end  of  the  compulsory  age  period.  This  means 
that  such  boys  and  girls  must  select  for  their  future 
work  some  craft  or  calling  lying  within  their  ability.  To 
be  sure,  there  is  no  hard  and  fast  line  here,  and  individual 
tendencies,  native  capacity,  strong  determination,  may 
overcome  drawbacks  and  difficulties.  However,  we  should 
hardly  expect  the  son  of  the  least  opportunitied,  from  a 
financial  point  of  view,  to  be  able  to  give  the  years  to 
preparation  that  would  be  required  in  engineering  or  law; 
and  in  the  same  way  it  would  be  uncommon  indeed  to  find 
the  son  of  the  judge,  or  the  banker,  taking  up  cabinetwork 
or  bricklaying. 

It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  in  any  consideration  of 
the  adjustment  of  the  boy  or  girl  to  future  life  work  it 
will  be  necessary  to  give  due  weight  to  the  economic 
conditions  of  those  responsible  for  their  training  and 
education. 

The  third  factor  is  one  that  has  received  large  consid- 
eration at  the  hands  of  vocational  experts.  Those  who 
have  accomplished  much  in  a  material  sense  in  the  field 
of  vocational  guidance  lay  great  stress  upon  a  study  of 
the  local  field.  Each  community  has  its  own  problems 
to  solve.  From  the  industrial  and  commercial  sides 
particularly,  for  these  offer  the  largest  field  in  the 


Vocational  Adjustment  129 

beginning,  there  must  be  a  systematic  survey.  One  region 
may  emphasize  stock  raising,  another  mining,  another 
manufacture.  The  vocational  opportunities 
for  girls  and  boys  in  the  given  region  must  be  opportunities 
thoroughly  canvassed.  This  means  systematic  in  a  ziv™ 
work  in  charting  and  mapping,  in  collecting 
and  indexing  data,  in  getting  closely  in  touch  with 
employers,  agents,  factory  managers,  commercial  and 
industrial  promoters,  corporations,  unions,  and  labor 
organizations.  It  means  a  sympathetic  relation  between 
the  vocational  adviser  and  the  parents.  It  implies  a 
perfect  understanding  between  the  adviser  and  the  boys 
and  girls  he  represents. 

Caution  must  be  exercised  that  guidance,  or  adjust- 
ment, be  not  carried  too  far  on  the  basis  of  a  regional 
survey.  In  the  more  poorly  paid  occupations  the  vast 
majority  of  boys  and  girls  will  likely  find  employment  at 
home.  But  no  one  should  be  shut  off  from  entering  a 
field  of  endeavor  for  which  he  shows  fitness,  even  though 
such  field  of  activity  lies  at  a  distance. 

This  touches  closely  the  fourth  factor,  and  one  to  which 
sufficient  weight  has  not  been  attached.  No  one  should 
be  barred  from  any  plane  of  endeavor  simply  Future 

because  it  lies  remotely.  Moreover,  those 
who  are  responsible  for  progress  are  those 
who  with  large  vision  see  clearly  the  shadows  of  coming 
events.  Noting  certain  tendencies  in  the  individual,  and 
realizing  that  future  needs  of  the  community  or  the  nation 
lie  parallel  with  these  lines  of  strength,  every  desirable 
opportunity  should  be  thrown  around  such  individual. 
Capacities  undreamed  of  will  oftentimes  develop.  Our 
industrial,  or  economic,  or  social  life,  and  our  civic  life, 
constantly  call  for  trained  men  and  women  that  the  world 
cannot  supply.  A  notable  example  of  this  is  found  in  our 


I  jo  Ideals    and   Democracy 

great  cities,  where  experts  are  needed  for  research  and 
conservation  problems.  In  the  fields  of  vocational  inter- 
pretation, adjustment,  and  guidance,  men  and  women  are 
needed  to  carry  on  the  very  work  here  being  discussed. 
These  experts  we  shall  not  have  in  sufficient  numbers 
until  they  have  been  trained. 

Vocational  guidance  means  not  alone  the  adjusting 
of  individuals  to  environment,  to  vocations,  to  courses 
of  study;  it  means  as  well  the  modification 
applies  to  and  application  of  school  studies  to  best  meet 
school  the  needs  of  individual  boys  and  girls.  The 

adjustment  applies  to  the  course  of  study 
and  the  vocation  even  more  than  to  the  individual. 
And  further,  the  responsibility  for  this  guidance  or 
adjustment,  entirely  in  the  hands  of  teachers  and  advisers 
at  first,  is,  as  the  pupil  develops,  shared  by  him.  Parents 
resent  any  attempt  to  drive  the  boy  where  they  would 
prefer  he  should  not  go.  Hence  they  must  understand 
that  guidance  means  direction  only,  and  that  the  work 
of  adjustment  is  simply  to  help  the  boy  to  "find  himself." 

Trained  men  and  women  for  this  work  we  must  have. 

Bureaus    of    vocational    guidance    are    essential.    With 

such  a  plan  in  force  as  the  one  outlined  the 

demand         objection  is  at  once  raised  that  a  few  experts 

for  trained  and  advisers,  well  trained  though  they  be, 
teachers 

cannot    accomplish    the    necessary    results. 

This  is  obvious.  The  teachers  themselves  must,  under 
careful  direction,  carry  on  the  work  with  the  children  in 
the  grades.  They  must  do  this  because  it  is  a  physical 
impossibility  for  a  few  experts  to  do  it.  They  must  do 
it  because  at  present  no  city  or  locality  will  finance  more 
than  a  limited  number  of  such  experts.  They  must  do  it 
because  no  one,  so  well  as  the  teacher,  has  opportunity 
to  study  the  child  from  so  many  angles  or  in  so  many 


Vocational  Adjustment  jjj 

moods.  They  must  do  it  because,  with  our  greater 
understanding  of  what  school  is,  of  what  school  life  should 
mean,  and  of  the  necessity  for  boys  and  girls  entering,  in 
active  life,  those  fields  of  endeavor  for  which  they  are  best 
fitted,  has  come  as  well  the  understanding  that  to  hear 
lessons  recited  from  a  book  is  the  least  of  the  teacher's 
duties.  Her  hours  must  not  be  lengthened  or  the  details 
of  her  task  multiplied.  But  with  large  masses  of  material 
within  each  school  subject  whittled  off,  and  cast  to  the 
rubbish  heap,  there  will  be  opportunity  to  emphasize  fun- 
damentals. Courses  of  study  are  of  less  importance  than 
health  and  happiness.  We  are  to  stop  teaching  subjects; 
we  are  to  teach  boys  and  girls. 

Before  teachers  can  undertake  successfully  to  carry  out 
any  such  program  they  themselves  must  receive  instruc- 
tion.   For  the  present  the  vocational  adviser 
and  a  scant  literature  are  the  only  sources  of         schools 
help  and  inspiration  to  the  teacher.    Without     must  °ffer 
fear  of  successful  contradiction  the  statement 
is  made  that  as  soon  as  the  necessary  budget  can  be 
arranged  and  the  best-prepared  instructor  secured,  every 
normal  and  training  school  in  the  country,  and  every 
higher  institution   of  learning  awarding  credentials  to 
teach,  should  offer  courses  in  vocational  interpretation 
and   adjustment.     These   courses   should    be    required 
of  all  candidates  for  graduation.     Indeed,  one  of  the 
weaknesses  in  normal  schools  the  country  over  has  been 
the  lack  of  just  such  courses.    A  proper  course  would 
involve  the  most  fundamental  facts  in  child  psychology, 
in   practical   pedagogy,    in    economics   and   history,   in 
geography  and  literature  and  art.     It  would  compre- 
hend a  knowledge  of  industrial  conditions  and  processes, 
of  business  methods,  of  keeping  of  accounts  and  filing 
systems.    The  most  successful  teacher  of  such  a  course 


Ideals    and   Democracy 

will  have  large  sympathy,  great  tact,  and  patience 
abounding. 

Such  normal-school  courses  should  train  teachers  in 
the  observation  of  pupils;  in  how  to  detect,  interpret, 
and  tabulate  tendencies;  in  the  kinds  of  work  to  bring 
out  undeveloped  characteristics.  Before  graduating,  these 
teachers  should  know  how  to  work  with  their  associate 
teachers  in  the  study  of  particular  cases;  should  know 
how  to  cooperate  with  fathers  and  mothers  or  those 
having  charge  of  boys  and  girls;  and  they  should  be 
trained  in  the  methods  of  making  regional  surveys,  of 
indexing  data,  and  of  securing  the  cooperation  of  em- 
ployers and  of  social,  industrial,  and  other  organizations 
in  the  community.  If  no  work  in  library  instruction  is 
given  in  the  normal  school,  the  course  in  vocational 
adjustment  should  include  the  fundamental  features  of 
such  library  work.  The  teacher  must  know  how  to  use 
books  in  order  to  teach  her  pupils  the  same  art.  The 
teacher  should  be  schooled  not  alone  in  how  to  study 
books  but  particularly  in  how  to  study  boys  and  girls. 

The  work  of  vocational  adjustment  will,  for  some 
time,  be  confined  to  the  larger  cities.  The  reasons  for 
this  are  obvious.  In  summarizing,  we  would  appear  to 
have  arrived  at  the  following  conclusions. 

First:  Teachers  should  devote  a  considerable  portion 
of  their  time  to  a  study  of  the  child  and  his  dominant 
interests  and  aptitudes,  and  to  the  vocations,  the  better 
to  fit  the  curriculum  to  the  pupil  and  the  pupil  to  envi- 
roning conditions.  Teachers  must  counsel  with  parents. 
Vocational  interpretation  and  the  adjustment  of  the 
pupil  call  for  a  system  of  records  such  as  are  made  for 
other  school  studies. 

Second:  Parents  and  pupils  must  be  won  to  the  aid 
of  the  movement.  All  social  and  other  organizations 


Vocational  Adjustment  133 

should  join  hands  with  the  school  in  promoting  the 
cause.  The  parents  must  understand  at  the  outset  that 
vocational  adjustment  applies  not  to  blacksmithing  more 
than  to  law  or  banking.  They  must  understand  that  the 
steering  gear  is  not  attached  simply  to  the  boy,  but  to 
the  course  of  study  as  well.  They  must  understand  that 
all  elements  are  to  be  brought  into  harmony — the  boy  and 
his  abilities,  the  region  and  its  possibilities,  the  course 
<5f  study  and  the  educational  forces  in  home  and  school, 
on  playground  and  street.  They  must  understand  that 
proper  adjustment  is  demanded,  that  to  the  individual 
may  come  returns  not  alone  in  dollars  but  in  satisfaction. 
The  perpetuity  of  society  itself  demands  such  adjust- 
ment. The  economic  condition  of  the  family  is  always  a 
determining  factor. 

Third:  The  school  department,  working  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  industrial  and  social  forces  of  the  com- 
munity, should  establish  a  Bureau  under  whose  direction 
the  work  of  vocational  interpretation  and  adjustment  is 
to  be  carried  forward. 

Fourth:  The  director  of  this  Bureau  should  be  a 
teacher,  a  business  man,  a  student  of  sociology,  and  pref- 
erably a  man  at  home  with  one  or  more  of  the  trades 
prevalent  in  the  district.  He  must  be  educated  in 
literary  as  well  as  in  mechanical  lines.  He  must  be  far- 
seeing,  patient  for  results,  determined,  tactful.  He  must 
possess  James  Bryce's  four  elements  that  enter  into  the 
make-up  of  a  leader — intellectual  independence,  tenacity 
of  purpose,  sound  judgment,  and  sympathy.  He  must 
know  many  things  well ;  he  must  know  men  and  women, 
boys  and  girls,  best  of  all. 

The  director,  the  advisers,  and  the  teachers  should 
make  a  survey  of  the  local  region.  All  occupations, 
trades,  vocations,  professions,  should  be  catalogued  and 


134  Ideals   and   Democracy 

charted.  The  requirements,  compensation,  opportunities, 
and  distribution  of  each  vocation  must  be  noted  and 
the  possibilities  for  developing  the  industry  or  profession 
studied.  Thorough  consideration  must  be  given  the  fu- 
ture prospects  and  needs,  both  at  home  and  in  the  nation. 
The  securing  of  the  data  will  require  considerable  time 
and  expert  work. 

Fifth:  The  employers,  manufacturers,  and  corporation 
and  labor  organizations  must  be  interested  and  their  co- 
operation secured. 

Sixth:  Courses  of  study  in  vocational  interpretation 
and  adjustment  should  be  introduced  into  the  normal 
schools  and  education  departments  of  colleges.  High- 
school  courses  in  vocational  adjustment  should  be  offered 
in  every  high  school. 

All  education,  of  whatever  nature,  is  or  should  be  a 
part  of  life,  and  the  greatest  thing  in  life  is  living.  Train- 
The  ing  for  the  vocation  of  living  is  after  all  the 

vocation  of  chief  work  of  the  school.  This  means  training 
hving  -m  ^bits  of  industry,  habits  of  thought,  habits 

of  action,  habits  of  cheerfulness,  habits  of  character,  and 
habits  of  service.  To  achieve  lasting  and  large  results, 
teachers  must  be  trained  for  vocational  guidance.  They 
must  study  the  boy  and  girl  from  the  time  of  entrance 
to  school.  Until  the  significance  of  vocational  education 
in  the  upper  grades  and  the  high  school  is  understood 
and  acted  upon  our  courses  of  study  will  remain  inade- 
quate. Until  vocational  adjustment  is  made  a  part  of  all 
school  work,  vocational  education  will  fail  to  meet  the 
demands  of  this  developing  age. 


CHAPTER  IX 
ATTAINABLE   IDEALS 

OOMEWHERE  in  the  dim  reaches  of  the  past— a 
^-/  distant  day  as  we  reckon  time  but  only  as  yesterday 
when  considered  in  the  light  of  evolutionary  history — 
the  human  animal  existed  in  his  simplicity.  From  the 
rising  of  the  sun  in  the  heavens  to  the  darken- 
ing of  his  world  this  simple  man  followed  Primit^ee 
nature.  His  needs  were  few,  his  wants  hardly 
greater,  his  ambitions  yet  unborn.  He  lived  from  day 
to  day,  and  only  the  change  of  seasons  made  it  neces- 
sary for  him  to  change  his  daily  mode  of  action.  To 
procure  food  and  to  protect  himself  from  the  elements 
and  from  savage  beasts  and  human  enemies  were  his 
only  cares.  For  him  a  cave  was  a  palace,  a  hollow  tree 
trunk  was  a  stately  dwelling,  a  sheltering  cliff  was  a  mod- 
ern bungalow.  He  fished  with  his  hands,  hunted  with  a 
club,  and  ate  flesh  as  we  eat  oysters.  There  were  no 
latest  styles  to  trouble  him,  no  roads  to  build,  no  cities  to 
beautify.  His  taxes  were  never  delinquent.  He  had  no 
polished  floors  to  rewax,  no  trousers  to  be  creased,  and 
milk  pasteurized  or  sterilized  was  unknown  to  him.  He 
possessed  no  watch  with  a  mainspring  to  be  repaired,  no 
plow  with  a  share  to  be  sharpened.  He  was  troubled 
neither  with  railroads,  telephones,  books,  breakfast  foods 
(similar  in  composition  but  bearing  different  names), 
gas  stoves,  newspapers,  steamboats,  electric  flatirons,  nor 
pure-food  laws.  The  tipping  crime  was  unknown  and, 
because  civilization  had  not  yet  been  substituted  for 

10  135 


136  Ideals   and   Democracy 

native  honesty,  graft  was  not  then  invented.  He  studied 
neither  sociology  nor  ethics,  felt  no  obligation  toward 
that  vague  thing  called  society,  and  interested  himself 
not  at  all  in  that  still  more  indefinite  element  known  as 
culture.  He  hunted  and  fished,  ate,  drank,  slept,  swam, 
climbed,  lived,  and  died,  and  another  took  his  place  and 
life  went  on. 

But  the  storm,  the  wind,  the  rain,  ice,  snow,  and  sleet, 
lightning  and  thunder,  the  scorching  sun — each  in  turn 
The  made  it  necessary  for  this  early  man  to 

beginning  seek  shelter  or  suffer.  He  became  quick  to 
of  education  take  a(jvantage  of  Nature  and  to  improve 
upon  and  assist  her.  His  cave  developed  into  a  cabin. 
The  cunning  of  the  wild  animals  made  necessary  artificial 
weapons,  and  to  assist  him  he  laid  hold  of  the  sharpened 
stone.  The  skins  of  the  animals  slain  for  food  were  used 
as  protection  to  his  body  against  the  cold.  He  began  to 
utilize  to  his  own  advantage  those  things  that  lay  in  his 
immediate  environment.  He  was  becoming  educated. 

During  this  long  period  there  was  practically  no  society, 
no  division  of  labor,  no  trading  of  commodities,  no  barter, 
no  exchange  of  goods,  no  printed  records,  no  labor-saving 
devices,  no  scientific  laboratories,  no  understanding  of 
natural  laws,  no  standard  of  ideals,  no  policies  of  gov- 
ernment. Each  man  performed  the  duties  of  life  much 
as  every  other  man  performed  them,  the  necessities  only 
receiving  attention. 

But  individuals  at  last  rotated  together.  The  family 
members  lived  in  a  common  center,  and  thus  in  time 
a  tribe  appeared.  A  clan  followed,  and  al- 
tnouSh  tne  steP  is  a  mighty  one,  the  nation 
finally  resulted.  With  the  tribe  or  clan  came 
the  community;  villages,  towns,  cities,  sprang  into  exist- 
ence; the  hands  and  sharpened  stick  gave  place  to  the 


Attainable  Ideals 

crude  plow,  the  hoe,  the  shovel,  and  finally  the  most 
intricate  and  modern  implements  of  the  world's  most 
important  industry — agriculture.  The  sharpened  stone 
was  the  forerunner  of  the  ax,  and  the  tools  of  the  arts 
and  sciences  finally  appeared.  From  a  human  animal, 
with  his  head  to  the  ground,  the  man,  erect  and  clear 
sighted,  was  evolved,  clothed,  and  civilized.  The  wild 
animals  were  domesticated  and  trained  to  labor  for 
his  advantage.  He  walked  on  streets  made  by  his  own 
hands;  he  rode  on  vessels  fashioned  by  his  own  cun- 
ning; he  built  of  wood,  of  stone  and  brick,  of  iron  and 
steel;  and  he  molded  and  shaped  materials  through  the 
aid  of  fire,  which  had  come  to  his  service.  Physical  laws, 
while  not  yet  understood,  were  still  appreciated,  and  of 
such  appreciation  advantage  was  now  taken.  Principles 
involved  in  the  physical,  chemical,  and  biological  sciences 
were  dimly  grasped.  Subject  matter  blazed  the  trail 
for  method. 

Education,  up  to  this  time,  had  been  delayed.  The 
process  now  was  comparatively  rapid.  The  world  of 
science  was  at  last  unfolding,  and  scientific  principles 
were  applied  to  the  everyday  life  and  in  the  ordinary 
occupations  and  crafts.  The  arts  were  being  evolved;  a 
moral  sense  was  being  built;  standards  of  morality  were 
becoming  fixed:  altruism  was  developing;  reverence  for 
Deity  was  being  substituted  for  superstitious  worship. 
Ideals  were  pointing  the  way  to  greater  and  greater  prog- 
ress; democracy  was  looking  toward  possibility;  evolution 
was  resulting  in  civilization.  And  now  distance  has  been 
conquered,  literature  has  been  developed,  nature  has 
been  harnessed  to  do  man's  bidding  in  a  thousand  ways. 
The  possibilities  of  yesterday  have  become  the  realities 
of  to-day. 

All  during  these  countless  ages  of  man's  development 


Ideals   and   Democracy 

he  wss  laying  foundations  for  higher  ideals,  and  during 
all  this  time  he  was  being  prepared  to  produce  and  to 
live  in  a  democracy.  Ideals  and  Democracy!  Never  in 
What  real  ^e  history  °f  tne  world  has  there  been  such 
democracy  need  for  a  real  democracy,  and  never  was 
there  a  country  where  the  natural  conditions 
were  better  suited  to  or  the  people  more  thoroughly 
prepared  for  a  real  democracy.  Real  democracy  means 
liberty,  but  liberty  under  law  and  not  license.  This 
country  stands  for  liberty,  equality,  fraternity;  it  stands 
for  justice,  right,  truth;  it  stands  for  honor,  integrity, 
high  moral  purpose ;  it  stands  for  education,  religion,  good 
home  influences,  civic  righteousness,  political  freedom, 
commercial  cleanliness;  it  stands  for  high  manhood  and 
noble  womanhood.  This  country  stands  for  all  these 
things,  but,  as  a  people,  we  have  not  yet  attained  to  them. 
Our  ideals  have  not  yet  been  set  sufficiently  high ;  we  have 
not  lived  up  to  our  knowledge  of  the  best,  and  our  democ- 
racy is  a  democracy  in  part  only.  Before  it  shall  become 
a  democracy  in  truth,  ideals  must  be  held  by  all  men,  and 
these  ideals  must  be  realized. 

How  imperfectly  have  the  people  of  any  age  that  is 
past  been  fitted  to  establish  a  democracy  in  fact,  and 
Relation  of  ^ow  madequate  have  been  their  standards  of 
ideals  to  the  life,  of  moral  conduct,  of  duties  of  individual 

development     to  individual  or  of  individual  to  community! 
of  democracy 

The  ideals  possessed  by  the  early  peoples  and 

by  nations  of  great  promise  were  often  far  from  exalted  — 
ideals  that  were  not  ideal.  Centuries  there  have  been  in 
which  war  and  lust  and  greed  and  gain  have  been  the 
prevailing  conceptions  of  life.  Brother  has  been  at  war 
with  brother,  man  with  man,  nation  with  nation.  Selfish- 
ness, not  brotherly  love,  has  been  the  watchword ;  intrigue, 
not  honor,  has  been  blazoned  upon  the  standards;  personal 


Attainable  Ideals  i jp 

interest  rather  than  the  good  of  all  has  been  the  heading 
of  each  chapter  in  life's  unfolding.  Truly,  high  ideals  are 
a  matter  of  growth,  and  character  is  not  developed  in  a 
single  day.  Let  us  consider  the  relation  of  ideals  to  the 
development  of  true  democracy  and  whether  democracy 
is  in  itself  an  ideal. 

"  I  am  keenly  aware,"  says  Jastrow,1  "of  the  dis-service 
of  ideals,  of  the  part  they  have  played  in  the  history  of 
fanaticism,  of  intolerance,  of  pseudo-science,  as  well  as 
of  their  service  in  progress  and  reform.  I  appreciate  more 
practically  how  readily  in  lesser  concerns  an  ideal,  like 
a  conscience,  may  become  a  troublesome  burden.  Ideals 
are  often  made  to  work  overtime  and  unseasonably;  and 
ideals  unwisely  worn  often  restrict  rather  than  illuminate 
the  outlook.  But  to  achieve  a  worthy  or  serviceable 
foothold  in  this  tumultuous  and  competitive  world  of 
ours,  some  decided  singleness  of  purpose  and  some  sup- 
porting ideals  are  alike  indispensable." 

But  are  ideals  attainable?  It  was  said  recently  by 
one  in  my  hearing,  while  speaking  of  the  fundamental 
principles  upon  which  a  great  organization 
is  founded,  "Its  teachings  look  toward  high 
ideals,  and  such  ideals  as  are  practical;  such 
as  may  actually  be  attained  to."  This  he  characterized 
as  a  paradox.  An  ideal  worthy  the  name  must  be  practi- 
cal. Ideals  are  visions  of  improved  conditions;  ideals  are 
yearnings  after  higher  purposes;  they  are  desires  for  more 
perfect  standards;  they  are  glimpses  of  richer  promises; 
they  are  determinations  for  a  fuller  realization  of  life  and 
all  that  it  is  and  means.  Ideals  are  practical;  they  can 
be  realized.  An  ideal  beyond  attainment  is  less  than 
an  ideal.  It  is  a  product  only  of  the  imagination.  ^  It 
is  a  vain  searching  for  the  impossible.  It  is  a  reaching 
1  The  Qualities  of  Men,  p.  90. 


140  Ideals   and   Democracy 

out  after  empty  dreams.     To  make  simply  for  the  non- 
attainable  is  as 

"An  infant  crying  in  the  night: 
An  infant  crying  for  the  light, 
And  with  no  language  but  a  cry."  ! 

The  lack  of  high  ideals  on  the  part  of  so  many  men  and 
women  is  a  matter  of  grave  consideration  to  those  who 
give  attention  to  this  question,  and  especially  to  those  who 
have  in  their  charge  the  training  of  the  youth,  whether 
in  the  home,  the  school,  the  church,  or  the  shop.  High 
ideals  must  be  developed  in  the  mind  of  every  boy  and 
every  girl,  every  man  and  every  woman,  and  all  must  work 
toward  their  realization. 

Ideals  of  appreciation  must  be  cultivated  if  we  are  to 
attain  to  a  real  democracy.  Few  of  us  realize  our  debt 
Ideals essen-  ^°  those  wno  have  gone  before  us;  we  little 
tialtoreal  appreciate  the  extent  of  our  obligation  to 
democracy  ^Q  generations  of  past  time,  whose  work  and 
faith  and  loyalty  have  made  our  present  standards  possible. 
Just  as  each  man  owes  much  to  his  friend,  so  each  of 
us  owes  infinitely  more  than  he  can  in  a  lifetime  repay 
to  the  men  and  the  women  who,  through  past  time,  have 
worked  and  lived  and  died,  suffered  and  failed,  joyed 
and  conquered,  that  our  life  and  civilization  might  be 
made  possible.  In  this  sense,  every  man  who  has  lived 
is  the  benefactor  of  each  of  us,  and  each  must  be  looked 
upon  as  a  friend. 

"Every  man  contains  in  himself  the  elements  of  all 
the  rest  of  humanity.  Some  time  or  other  to  each  must 
come  the  consciousness  of  this  larger  life.  In  accepting 
as  his  own  the  life  of  others,  he  becomes  aware  of  a  life 
in  himself  that  has  no  limit  and  no  end. " 
!Tennyson,  In  Memoriam,  stanza  5. 


Attainable   Ideals  141 

That  what  we  are  as  individuals  is  owing  to  those  who 
lived  in  the  past,  that  the  progress  of  to-day  is  built  upon 
the  achievement  of  yesterday,  has  frequently 
found  expression.  The  mountain  torrent  ^o'tfo^ast 
and  the  mountain  lake  lie  high  up  and  far 
removed  from  the  eyes  of  men  on  the  lower  levels.  The 
torrent  grows  into  the  stream,  the  stream  expands  into 
the  ever  widening  river,  and  flowing  on  and  on,  finally 
finds  its  way  to  the  free  and  throbbing  ocean.  Upon  the 
surface  of  the  river,  back  and  forth,  pass  the  craft  laden 
with  freight  or  carrying  the  traveler.  Cities  spring  up 
upon  its  banks.  Along  its  borders  on  either  side  men  till 
the  soil,  and  plant  and  harvest  their  crops.  These  are 
carried  up  or  down  the  river,  and  in  the  cities  the  raw 
material  is  converted  into  the  finished  product,  and  again 
the  manufactured  article  is  sent  from  point  to  point. 

But  men  think  only  of  the  river,  of  this  mighty  highway 
of  communication.  To  the  mountain  torrent  they  give 
no  thought.  Let  me  take  from  you  the  torrent,  the  very 
source  and  life  of  this  majestic  stream,  and  what  of  the 
river,  the  cities,  the  manufacturing  industries,  the  vast 
agricultural  interests,  the  very  homes  of  a  contented  peo- 
ple? All  are  gone.  Just  Fas  we  as  a  people,  when  con- 
sidering our  present  achievement,  cannot  ignore  the  part 
played  by  all  those  who  have  gone  before;  and  as  the 
river  must  needs  look  for  its  life  in  the  mountain  torrent, 
so  must  every  man  look  to  the  past  and  to  that  great  body 
of  teachers  and  taught  who  have  worked  and  thought 
and  struggled  in  all  earlier  times.  The  future  shall  be 
fashioned  from  the  present,  and  to-day  is  because  yester- 
day was. 

Few  men  realize  their  obligation  to  others  and  to  them- 
selves. We  all  are  too  free  to  criticize  the  other  fellow, 
reserving  to  ourselves  special  privileges  we  are  not  willing 


142  Ideals   and   Democracy 

to  accord  him.  We  fail  to  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of 
our  neighbor  and  to  demand  of  ourselves  as  strict 
accounting  as  we  demand  from  others. 

There  is,  indeed,  an  appreciation  that  must  carry  over 
from  individual  to  individual.   Whether  embodied  in  word 

or  deed,  in  attitude  or  expression,  that  which 
The  strenuous     ,          ,    ,  ,  .  . 

life  blunts        should  be  our  pleasure  is  too   often  mter- 

the finer  preted  in  terms  of  duty,  and  the  duty  is  left 
sensibilities  «  ,.,  _, 

undone.     Tardily  we  see  our   error.      The 

hurry  and  worry  of  this  economic  age  so  engrosses  the 
attention  that  the  finer  sensibilities  suffer.  "  For  the  first 
time  in  all  the  years  I  have  worked  with  him,  Mr.  Smith 
actually  said  he  was  proud  of  his  corps  of  associates," 
said  a  conscientious,  competent  employee.  Being  human, 
she  and  her  associates  missed  the  occasional  word  of 
appreciation — a  word  that  would  lighten  the  load  and 
make  work  a  joy  instead  of  a  drudgery.  To  be  apprecia- 
tive we  must  measure  the  qualities  of  men,  and  attribute 
proper  values. 

"I  measure  men  by  the  bigness  scale — 

A  man  is  all  that  he  means  to  be; 
His  heart  may  falter,  his  feet  may  fail, 

And  yet  the  man  is  the  same  to  me. 

I  've  never  looked  on  the  perfect  tree 
That  showed  no  mark  of  the  winter's  gale, 

And  never  perfect  the  man  I  see — 
I  measure  men  by  the  bigness  scale. 

"I  measure  men  by  the  bigness  scale, 
Nor  ask  what  defects  may  lie  below. 

I  know  the  soul  of  the  man  is  frail, 
I  know  the  hope  of  the  man  is  slow, 
I  know  the  thorns  that  around  him  grow, 

The  brambled  ways  that  his  feet  assail — 
The  best  of  man  is  the  man  I  know; 

I  measure  men  by  the  bigness  scale. 


Attainable  Ideals  I43 

"I  measure  men  by  the  bigness  scale; 

In  ev'ry  mortal  two  men  there  are; 
The  man  who  looks  from  the  gloomy  jail 

May  fix  his  gaze  on  the  shining  star. 

For  life  is  long  and  the  way  is  far — 
For  some  the  sun  and  for  some  the  hail, 

The  good  to  save  or  the  ill  to  mar — 
I  measure  men  by  the  bigness  scale. 

"I  measure  men  by  the  bigness  scale; 

I  measure  men  by  a  simple  rule 
I  learned  myself  by  the  lonesome  trail, 

The  stony  path  and  the  murky  pool, 

I  learned  myself  in  the  sterner  school 
Where  right  may  lose  and  the  wrong  prevail— 

And,  saint  or  sinner,  or  sage  or  fool, 
I  measure  men  by  the  bigness  scale. 

"I  measure  men  by  the  bigness  scale; 

I  pray  that  others  may  measure  you 
Not  by  your  lifetime's  tangled  tale 

But  by  the  things  you  tried  to  do. 

I  sometimes  look  to  the  skies  of  blue 
And  catch  the  spirit  of  Holy  Grail 

And  know,  and  know,  when  the  game  is  through, 
Christ  measures  men  by  the  bigness  scale!"  ! 

A  conception  of  what  we  owe  other  men — those  of  past 
time  and  those  of  our  day  and  generation  whether  asso- 
ciated with  our  business  or  social  interests  or 
separated  from  us  by  sea  or  land  expanse —     realization 

has  never  been  so  clearly  before  the  people  as   ofourinter- 
J.  .  dependence 

to-day.  In  our  commercial  relations  we  are  all 
but  helpless  without  the  aid  of  those  in  our  own  and  in 
other  lands.  The  food  that  comes  to  our  table,  the  fabrics 
with  which  we  clothe  ourselves,  the  materials  contained 
in  the  homes  that  shelter  us  are  provided,  not  at  hand,  but 
come  at  our  bidding  from  the  farthermost  corners  of  the 
1  Douglas  Mallock,  The  Measure  of  Men. 


144  Ideals    and   Democracy 

earth.  Our  social  and  mental  appetites  are  satisfied  by 
books,  works  of  art,  and  masterpieces  of  music  that  were 
born  in  the  brains  of  men  who  speak  languages  alien  to 
our  own,  and  whose  mode  of  life  is  vastly  different  from 
ours.  Even  our  moral  and  spiritual  natures  receive 
stimulus  not  only  from  those  with  whom  we  touch  elbows 
but  by  the  acts  and  words  and  life  of  all  those,  of  what- 
ever country  or  whatever  time,  whose  high  moral  purpose 
and  constant  searching  after  better  things  admonish  us  to 
look  upward  and  onward  and  to  strive  to  be,  each  day, 
not  better  than  our  neighbors  but  better  than  ourselves. 
We  are  interdependent,  and  as  such  must  join  hands  so 
as  to  complete  the  circuit  between  the  past  that  has  made 
us  and  the  future  for  which  we  are  responsible. 

No  man  owes  what  he  is  to  himself  alone.  There  are 
no  self-made  men.  "What  a  burden  of  responsibility  is 
True  removed  from  the  shoulders  of  the  Almighty," 

democracy  responded  his  hearer,  when  an  acquaintance 
a  national  announced  himself  as  a  self-made  man.  And 


because  we  owe  this  debt  to  the  past,  we 
must  repay  in  part  by  meeting  our  obligations  to  the 
future.  There  can  be  no  true  democracy  until  the  ideal 
of  all  men  shall  grow  into  a  national  ideal;  an  ideal  that 
shall  make  each  responsible  for  all.  We  must  realize 
that  while  the  children  of  men  are  anywhere  in  misery, 
or  want,  or  ignorance,  or  privation,  or  bondage,  no  one 
of  us  is  free.  As  Tennyson  sings,1 

"Is  it  well  that  while  we  range  with  Science,  glorying  in  the  Time, 
City  children  soak  and  blacken  soul  and  sense  in  city  slime?" 

Our  debt  to  the  past  can  be  met  only  by  holding  before 
us  high  ideals  of  what  we  shall  do  for  the  future  and  by 
seeing  the  realization  of  the  ideals  in  results  accomplished. 

1  Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After. 


Attainable  Ideals  145 

The  lad  at  school  is  usually  admonished,  when  in  a  con- 
troversy with  his  fellows,  that  he  is  no  better  than  any 
of  his  associates.  As  a  man  he  insists  that 
one  individual  is  as  good  as  another.  Do  The 
you  recall  Lowell?  "Amid  all  the  fruitless 
turmoil  and  miscarriage  of  the  world,  if  there  be  one 
thing  steadfast  and  of  favorable  omen,  one  thing  to 
make  optimism  distrust  its  own  obscure  distrust,  it  is 
the  rooted  instinct  in  men  to  admire  what  is  better  and 
more  beautiful  than  themselves."1  If  all  men  at  all 
times  exemplified  the  ideal  as  set  forth  by  Lowell  we 
should  indeed  be  able  to  herald  the  real  democracy.  In 
our  littleness  we  clothe  ourselves  in  bigotry  and  surround 
ourselves  with  sham.  We  are  too  prone  to  think  more 
highly  of  ourselves  than  we  ought  to  think. 

The  gospel  of  equality  is  well  illustrated  in  an  anecdote 
that  comes  from  the  personal  experience  of  an  American 
Minister  to  Sweden.  A  Swedish  peasant  was  traveling 
by  post  chaise  and  desired  a  change  of  horses.  In  the 
more  distant  country  districts  travel  is  altogether  by  post, 
with  a  post  house  every  few  miles  along  the  way.  The 
keepers  of  these  post  houses  are  expected  to  give  the 
traveler  a  change  of  horses  on  request,  and  this  without 
regard  to  rank  or  title  or  station  of  the  individual.  The 
first  to  come  shall  be  first  served.  The  peasant  in  question 
ordered  fresh  horses  for  his  conveyance  and  while  he  was 
partaking  of  refreshment  a  second  traveler,  the  Governor 
of  the  province,  chanced  by.  He  also  required  fresh 
animals.  It  so  happened  that  only  two  horses  remained, 
and  the  attendant,  at  the  command  of  the  Governor, 
was  placing  these  at  the  disposal  of  the  latter  when  the 
countryman  appeared  and  ordered  a  halt  in  proceedings. 
"What,"  said  the  Governor,  "do  you  refuse  to  permit 

1  Democracy  and  Other  Essays,  p.  36. 
10 


Ideals   and   Democracy 

those  horses  to  be  harnessed  into  my  carriage?"  "Yes, 
I  do, "  said  the  peasant.  "And  do  you  know  who  I  am  ? " 
blustered  the  dignitary.  "I  am  the  Governor  of  this 
province,  a  Knight  of  the  Royal  Order  of  the  North  Star, 
and  one  of  the  Chamberlains  of  His  Majesty,  the  King." 
"Oh,  ho!"  said  the  peasant.  "And  do  you,  sir,  know 
who  I  am? "  Fearing  now  that  the  attire  of  the  country- 
man was  merely  a  disguise,  the  negative  reply  from  the 
nobleman  was  somewhat  hesitating.  "Well,"  replied  the 
peasant,  walking  up  to  his  face  and  looking  him  firmly 
in  the  eye,  "I'll  tell  you  who  I  am — /  am  the  man  that 
ordered  those  horses."1  Needless  to  say,  he  got  them. 

In  our  country  there  is  no  aristocracy  of  birth,  although 
the  attitude  of  many  a  man  would  seem  to  indicate  the 
contrary.  There  is  no  aristocracy  of  money,  but  material 
possession  is  daily  ruining  many  an  otherwise  excellent 
character.  Wealth  or  position  is  not  necessarily  a  guar- 
antee of  quality  or  nobility  of  soul.  The  man  of  humble 
parentage  who  struggles  for  a  livelihood  frequently  wins 
the  race  for  the  abiding  things  of  life. 

Men  are  to  be  measured  in  terms  of  those  things  which 
abide.  Let  us  take  heed  lest  we  give  undue  prominence 
to  the  shallow  and  superficial  and  leave 
averages  '  unmeasured  those  qualities  that  endure. 
Beneath  many  a  plain  exterior  there  dwells 
a  soul  of  rare  beauty,  and  the  cottage  is  often  the  home  of 
contentment.  And  after  all,  when  the  evidence  is  all  in 
we  are  forced  to  admit  that  the  law  of  averages  holds  here 
as  elsewhere.  Few  men  merit  one  hundred  per  cent  in 
all  things.  Those  who  excel  here  are  short  weight  there, 
and  it  not  infrequently  falls  out  that  the  one  of  small 
means,  of  scant  opportunities,  and  humble  social  distinc- 
tion, and  who  is  styled  as  average  by  the  society  lion,  the 

i  W.  H.  Thomas,  Jr.,  Sweden  and  the  Swedes,  p.  27. 


Attainable  Ideals  747 

critic,  the  leader  of  fashion,  is,  as  a  man,  a  citizen,  a 
neighbor,  a  taxpayer,  in  all  ways  the  suoerior  of  the 
latter. 

The  man  who  would  rise  above  the  dead  level  of  the 
average,  whether  that  average  be  high  or  low,  should  seek 
in  others  for  those  qualities  which  others  would  admire  in 
him.  Having  found  them,  he  must  strive  to  rise  to  the 
heights  to  which  they  carry  their  possessor;  having  found 
them  not,  let  him  still  strive  to  perfect  himself,  that  he 
may  be  to  his  fellows  an  example  of  what  they  should 
hope  to  attain 

"In  one  of  Murillo's  pictures  in  the  Louvre,"  says 
Gannett,1  "he  shows  us  the  interior  of  a  convent  kitchen; 
but  doing  the  work  there  are  not  mortals  in  old  dresses, 
but  beautiful  white-winged  angels.  One  serenely  puts 
the  kettle  on  the  fire  to  boil,  and  one  is  lifting  up  a  pail 
of  water  with  heavenly  grace,  and  one  is  at  the  kitchen- 
dresser  reaching  up  for  plates;  and  I  believe  there  is  a 
little  cherub  running  about  and  getting  in  the  way,  trying 
to  help.  What  the  old  monkish  legend  that  it  represented 
is,  I  hardly  know.  But  as  the  painter  puts  it  to  you  on 
his  canvas,  all  are  so  busy,  and  working  with  such  a  will, 
and  so  refining  the  work  as  they  do  it,  that  somehow  you 
forget  that  pans  are  pans  and  pots  pots,  and  only  think 
of  the  angels,  and  how  very  natural  and  beautiful  kitchen- 
work  is, — just  what  the  angels  would  do,  of  course." 

How  admirably  this  sets  forth  the  ideal  of  labor!    The 
dignity,  the  glory,  the  morality  of  work  is  here  made 
real.    And,  in  truth,  it  is  high  time  that  men 
and  women  everywhere  thoroughly  believed    The     ^^ 
in  the  nobility  of  accomplishing  tasks  through 
physical  or  bodily  exertion.     It  is  an  unanswerable  fact 

1  Blessed  Be  Drudgery,  p.  27. 


148  Ideals    and   Democracy 

that  all  men  should  preach  the  gospel  of  work  and  practice 
the  classics  of  industrialism. 

Too  often  we  find  that  the  man  who,  as  a  boy,  was 
forced  to  perform  manual  labor  that  he  might  aid  in  the 
support  of  himself  or  of  the  family  looks  back  upon  his 
early  experiences  with  regret.  He  would  not  have  his  son 
work  as  he  worked.  His  great  desire  is  to  amass  a  for- 
tune that  his  son  may  be  reared  in  idleness,  or,  at  the 
best,  that  he  may  enter  a  profession.  He  would  have  his 
son  receive  a  salary,  not  wages;  he  must  occupy  a  position, 
not  hold  a  job. 

Such  a  man  does  not  dignify  labor.  He  is  robbing  his 
son  of  the  best  heritage  he  could  leave  him — a  knowl- 

Idleness       e^e   °*    wor^    at    ^rst    ^and    anc*  a    *ove    ^or 
vs.  labor.     He  is  cheating  him  of  his  right.     He  is 

depriving  him  of  the  very  elements  necessary 
to  produce  strength  of  character  and  stability  of  purpose; 
of  the  foundation  upon  which  to  build  a  proper  moral 
structure.  Work  has  been  the  salvation  of  man  since  the 
beginning  of  time,  and  in  our  age  and  generation,  more 
than  in  any  other  period  of  the  world's  history,  is  an 
appreciation  of  and  participation  in  work  by  every  one  a 
necessity.  The  strife  between  the  worker  and  the  idler  is 
on.  The  commercial  spirit  of  the  age  is  being  intensified. 
The  money  interests  are  becoming  so  centered  that,  many 
times,  the  desire  is  for  more  that  those  who  accumulate 
may  work  less.  Those  who  have  been  taught  that  work 
is  degrading  are  living  examples  of  the  fallacy  of  this  false 
philosophy.  Overtaken  by  misfortune  and  adversity, 
directed  in  a  wrong  course,  they  swell  the  ranks  of  the 
improvident  and  the  unemployed,  not  only  because  they 
will  not  work  but  because  they  have  not  been  taught  how 
to  work,  and  no  task  can  be  performed  by  them  in  an 
acceptable  manner.  The  street  corners  abound  with  men 


Attainable  Ideals 

and  boys  of  both  classes;  the  cheap  places  of  amusement 
must  have  their  patronage;  and  libraries  of  criminal 
literature  are  written  for  them.  They  walk  railroad 
tracks,  mingle  in  the  crowds  of  the  discontented,  and 
fill  our  prisons,  almshouses,  asylums,  and  institutions  for 
dependents. 

In  an  address  delivered  in  the  White  House  during 
February,    1908,    I    heard    Theodore    Roosevelt,    then 

President   of   the   United   States,   say:    "I 

u  .,  J  Importance 

would  not  have  you  preach  an  impossible  of  self  - 

ideal ;  for  if  you  preach  an  ideal  that  is  impos-  dePendence 
sible,  you  tend  to  make  your  pupils  believe  that  no  ideals 
are  possible,  and  therefore,  you  tend  to  do  them  that 
worst  of  wrongs — to  teach  them  to  divorce  preaching 
from  practice,  to  divorce  the  ideal  that  they  in  the  abstract 
admire  from  the  practical  good  after  which  they  strive. 
Teach  the  boy  and  girl  that  their  business  is  to  earn 
their  own  livelihood;  teach  the  boy  that  he  is  to  be 
the  homemaker;  the  girl  that  she  must  ultimately  be  the 
homekeeper;  that  the  work  of  the  father  is  to  be  the 
bread-winner,  and  that  of  the  mother  the  housekeeper; 
that  their  work  is  the  most  important  work  by  far  in  all 
the  land ;  that  the  work  of  the  statesman,  the  writer,  the 
captain  of  industry,  and  all  the  rest  is  conditioned — first, 
upon  the  work  that  finds  its  expression  in  the  family,  that 
supports  the  family.  So  teach  the  boy  that  he  is  to  be 
expected  to  earn  his  own  livelihood;  that  it  is  a  shame 
and  scandal  for  him  not  to  be  self-dependent,  not  to 
be  able  to  hold  his  own  in  the  rough  work  of  actual  life. 
Teach  the  girl  that  so  far  from  its  being  her  duty  to  try 
to  avoid  all  labor,  all  effort,  that  it  should  be  a  matter  of 
pride  to  her  to  be  as  good  a  housewife  as  her  mother 
was  before  her."1 

1  Proceedings,  National  Education  Association,  1908,  p.  213. 


Ideals   and   Democracy 

This  is  an  age  demanding  work.     The  boy  at  work  is 
doing  no  injustice  to  himself,  no  injury  to  others.     There 

is  no  better  moral  tonic  than  honest  work,  no 
muscle  VS*  mental  appetizer  superior  to  dignified  labor, 

and  all  honest  labor  is  dignified.  Money  alone 
can  accomplish  nothing.  The  mind  to  plan  and  the  money 
to  purchase  or  command  are  helpless  without  the  hand  to 
execute.  The  vast  enterprises  undertaken  and  accom- 
plished by  this  American  people  would  be  impossible  but 
for  the  labor  of  many  hands.  The  development  of  our 
wonderful  resources,  the  growth  of  marvelous  industries, 
the  building  up  of  a  great  commerce,  the  making  of  this 
country  into  a  home  for  millions  of  people — all  this  is 
possible  only  through  work. 

This  material  side,  however,  important  though  it  be, 
is  subsidiary  to  that  which  is  underneath.  The  moral 

fabric  of  the  individual  is  strengthened  in  the 
of  luork***  V6I7  atmosphere  of  honest  toil.  "  I  have 

learned,"  says  Booker  T.  Washington  in  his 
book,  Up  from  Slavery,  "that  success  is  to  be  measured 
not  so  much  by  the  position  that  one  has  reached  in  life 
as  by  the  obstacles  which  he  has  overcome  while  trying 
to  succeed."  It  is  not  enough  that  a  portion  of  our  peo- 
ple work.  Before  the  proper  bond  of  sympathy  can  exist 
between  capital  and  labor,  capital  must  labor.  Those 
who  feel  that  their  burdens  are  too  severe  would  have  less 
cause  so  to  feel  if  real  work  were  the  portion  of  every 
man.  "  It  will  become  a  matter  of  wonder  that  there  ever 
have  existed  those  who  thought  it  admirable  to  enjoy 
without  working,  at  the  expense  of  others  who  worked 
without  enjoying." 

And  Ruskin,  always  a  believer  in  intelligent  work  as 
the  salvation  of  the  race,  says:  "It  is  only  by  labor 
that  thought  can  be  made  healthy,  and  only  by  thought 


Attainable   Ideals  151 

that  labor  can  be  made  happy.  And  the  two  cannot 
be  separated  with  impunity.  All  professions  should  be 
liberal,  and  there  should  be  less  pride  felt  in  peculiarity 
of  employment  and  more  in  excellence  of  achievement. 
And  yet  more,  in  each  regular  profession,  no  master  should 
be  too  proud  to  do  its  hardest  work." 

Struggle  as  man  may  for  happiness,  he  may  look  for 
permanent  riches  in  this  direction  only  as  with  mind  and 
body  he  occupies  himself  in  honest  toil.  Plowman  or 
painter,  peasant  or  philosopher;  the  low  or  the  high,  the 
poor  or  the  rich;  office  boy  or  bank  president;  stevedore  or 
capitalist — each  must  have  his  own  work  to  do,  must  do 
it,  must  glory  in  the  doing.  To  do  one's  own  work  cheer- 
fully and  to  do  it  better  than  any  one  else  can  do  it  should 
be  the  ideal,  believing  with  Emerson  that  "there  needs  a 
revised  ideal  of  life.  .  .  .  Life  is  not  for  learning,  nor 
is  life  for  working,  but  learning  and  working  are  for  life." 

Many  a  youth  who  thinks  himself  fortunate  in  being 
exempt  from  work  looks  back  upon  this  condition  in 
Labor  must  ^s  ^e  as  a  c^m^J'  Labor  should  never 
not  degenerate  degenerate  into  drudgery.  Drudgery  kills 
into  drudgery  the  spirit  and  dulls  the  soul.  Drudgery  saps 
the  intellect  and  corrodes  the  conscience.  It  dims  the 
eye,  steals  beauty  of  feature,  and  bends  the  back.  There 
are  thousands  of  children  of  the  poor,  scattered  over  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  who  in  factory  and  shop 
are  leading  desolate  lives.  With  them  it  is  not  work  that 
kills,  but  overwork.  Labor  with  them  is  drudgery. 

But  drudgery  comes  not  alone  from  overwork.  Any 
work  can  be  made  mere  drudgery.  To  those  who  look 
upon  the  tasks  of  others  as  more  pleasing  than  their  own 
there  will  soon  come  bitterness  and  discontent.  Our 
labor  is  what  we  make  it.  Let  no  one  be  mistaken  in 
this.  Make  your  work  a  pleasure.  Dignify  the  laborer 

11 


i 52  Ideals    and   Democracy 

by  dignifying  the  labor  of  his  hands.  Be  sure  your  work 
is  ennobling  if  you  can  say  each  day  that  you  have  done 
your  best.  Let  the  work  of  to-day  be  better  than  that 
of  yesterday.  So  strive  that  the  result  of  to-morrow's 
labor  shall  surpass  that  of  to-day. 

Play  is  as  essential  as  work.  It  not  infrequently  falls 
out  that  those  who  have  the  least  respect  for  labor  are 
Recreation  as  Pr°fessi°nal  players.  Some  people  there  are 
necessary  who  shift  all  responsibility  to  the  shoulders 
of  others.  As  a  consequence,  overwork  is  the 
portion  of  many.  As  a  result  of  this  unequal  division 
of  things  a  serious  injustice  is  done  both  classes.  The 
professional  players  injure  themselves  and  the  society  of 
which  they  are  a  part.  Those  who  "work  without 
ceasing"  injure  themselves  as  well,  and  society  is  thereby 
impoverished. 

The  rank  and  file  of  business  and  professional  men — 
tradesman,  employer,  clerk,  publicist,  theologian,  teacher, 
jurist — play  in  the  summer.  The  habit  of  vacation  taking 
is  American.  After  nine,  ten,  or  eleven  months  of  unceas- 
ing grind  it  becomes  necessary  to  drop  the  burden  and 
go  out  into  the  wilderness.  It  is  a  habit  that  is  brought 
about  by  the  congestion  of  cities,  our  competitive  system, 
our  strenuous  existence,  and  the  temper  of  the  American 
people.  The  average  man  or  woman  is  wound  up  to  the 
highest  pitch  and  must,  after  working  to  the  limit  for 
months,  stop  suddenly  or  run  down. 

Our  leading  argument  for  a  summer  play  time  is  the 
oppressive  heat.  It  is  indeed  a  fact  that  in  cities  espe- 
cially the  heated  term  furnishes  a  particularly  undesirable 
work  period.  This  is  especially  true  when  men  and  women 
are  overworked  and  physically  and  mentally  fagged. 
The  business  man  of  to-day  is,  as  summer  approaches, 


Attainable  Ideals  j r j 

as  an  engine  that  has  been  designed  to  average  forty 
miles  an  hour,  and,  when  run  at  seventy,  finds  itself  in 
the  middle  of  the  journey  laid  up  with  a  broken  crank 
shaft.  Many  a  man  must  work  day  and  night  for  fifty 
years  that  he  may  accumulate  stores  on  earth  such  as  to 
allow  him  to  rest  the  last  twenty  of  his  threescore  years 
and  ten.  Alas!  at  the  age  of  fifty-one  the  "pitcher  is 
broken  at  the  fountain."  Had  he  interspersed  play  with 
work  he  would  have  enjoyed  his  fifty  years  and  perhaps 
have  lived  to  enjoy  in  greater  degree  the  remaining 
nineteen. 

The  plan  is  wrong.  No  man,  no  organization,  no  nation 
can  do  the  best  work  by  fits  and  starts.  Around  us  every 
day  we  see  exemplified  the  fallacy  of  our  un- 
natural course — failures,  invalids,  deaths.  It 
is  not  absolute  rest  that  many  of  us  need,  it  is 
change  of  thought  and  occupation.  Over-occupation  kills. 

"  I  could  not  enjoy  my  vacation,"  said  a  business  man 
to  me.  ' '  For  several  weeks  preceding  my  outing  I  worked 
day  and  night  to  get  my  business  into  such  shape  that  I 
could  leave  it."  This  is  a  common  experience.  Others 
carry  their  business  with  them,  and  experience  no  change, 
as  they  realize  they  must  again  overwork  on  their  return 
to  "make  up  for  lost  time."  Some  play  so  hard  that 
they  must  get  into  the  routine  of  their  work  in  order  to 
recuperate. 

We  are  living  in  an  age  of  electricity,  of  labor-saving 
devices.  We  are  alert  for  the  "done  while  you  wait" 
sign.  It  is  the  quick-lunch-counter  period.  The  , 
We  pay  excess  fare,  take  the  twentieth-  the  twentieth- 
century  limited,  and  chafe  at  the  least  delay.  °™Sd 

Our  automobile  pleasure  trip  develops  into 
a  joy  ride,  when  the  most  elastic  speed  limit  is  doubled  and 
then  broken.    We  chide  Central  if  our  wants  are  not 


154  Ideals   and   Democracy 

anticipated,  and  we  fume  and  fret  when  the  line  is  busy. 
A  blockade  on  the  elevated  throws  us  into  a  panic.  We 
bolt  our  eggs  and  coffee  while  devouring  the  latest  Stock 
Exchange  news.  We  rage  and  threaten  to  return  to 
tallow  candles  when  the  fuse  burns  out  and  the  electric 
lights  are  off  a  dozen  minutes.  The  curtain  at  the 
theater  must  go  up  as  we  take  our  seats  or  we  criticize 
the  management.  Our  work  crowds  us.  Competition  is 
keen.  We  are  the  victims  of  an  industrial  and  economic 
system  that  is  being  abused.  The  size  and  importance 
of  the  dollar  are  constantly  made  to  expand. 

Shall  we  then  mix  our  play  with  our  work?  Shall  the 
combination  be  macaronic?  Should  we  lop  off  our  play 
times,  and  lead  the  strenuous  life  from  spring 
to  spring?  We  should  do  neither.  Living  is 
of  work  a  serious,  although  withal  a  pleasant,  business, 

and  "  There  is  a  certain  dignity  to  be  kept  up 
in  pleasure,  as  well  as  in  business."  "All  work  and  no 
play  makes  Jack  a  dull  boy,"  but  Jack  can  accomplish 
little  when  his  play  and  work  are  mixed.  And  Jack  ac- 
complishes less  than  he  should  when  he  works  three  hun- 
dred days  and  then  plays  sixty-five.  Short  play  spells 
from  time  to  time  bring  best  results.  The  mind  of  the 
business  man,  keyed  up  to  high  tension,  must  be  given 
change  and  recreation,  and  this  should  come  frequently 
and  in  short  periods,  from  week  to  week,  and  from  month 
to  month.  The  overheated  engine  is  stopped  and  cooled, 
and  is  again  ready  for  its  work.  The  carrier  pigeon  relaxes, 
and  once  more  takes  up  its  journey.  We  shall  sometime 
come  to  understand  that  it  is  wrong  to  keep  the  mind  and 
body  running  at  high  speed  until,  exhausted,  a  prolonged 
rest  is  required  before  the  fires  are  again  started  under 
the  boilers.  And  following  such  strain,  neither  mental  nor 
physical  machinery  can  assume  normal  condition . 


Attainable  Ideals 

Through  a  happy  adjustment  of  work  and  play,  time, 
money,  and  health  may  be  saved,  and  length  of  days  may 
be  secured.  And  the  books,  when  we  leave,  will  show  a 
balance  in  results  accomplished. 

To  achieve  the  most  in  life,  and  to  derive  the  most  from 
life,  a  sense  of  humor  must  be  cultivated.  As  individuals 
we  must  be  ready  and  willing  to  see  the  pleasant  side  of 
things.  No  pessimistic,  gloomy,  morose,  sullen,  sulky 
character  ever  achieved  anything  worthy  of  emulation. 

Did  you  ever  enter  a  street  car  on  your  way  to  business, 
on  a  beautiful  morning  when  all  nature  smiled,  and  in  the 
fullness  of  joy  and  the  best  of  comradeship  Humor  as 
say  "Good  morrow"  to  a  fellow  passenger?  a  password 
And  what  a  wet  blanket  of  disaster  and  to  Pr°zress 
sadness  was  thrown  over  the  whole  atmosphere  of  the 
car  when  your  fellow  traveler  absolutely  ignored  your 
greeting,  or  at  the  best  emitted  only  a  growl,  as  much  as 
to  say:  "You  attend  to  your  own  business  and  I'll  take 
care  of  mine."  The  reaction  from  this  attitude  was  such 
that  you  slammed  the  office  door,  kicked  over  the  waste 
basket,  frowned  at  the  office  boy,  and  accomplished 
nothing  in  your  forenoon's  work.  We  owe  it  to  others 
as  well  as  to  ourselves  to  cultivate  and  preserve  a  sense  of 
humor.  Humor  develops  into  disposition.  Disposition 
foundations  character.  Humor  is  a  password  to  progress. 

By  humor  I  mean  much  more  than  the  ability  to  appre- 
ciate the  joke  or  send  back  wit  for  wit.  Humor  mirrors 
comradeship  and  happiness  and  the  tendency  to  grasp 
the  brighter  side.  Such  an  appreciation  of  humor  enables 
us  to  catch  the  viewpoint  of  the  other  fellow.  To  picture 
the  dark  and  gloomy  side  requires  no  particular  effort  or 
ability.  Our  work  goes  right  or  wrong  as  we  possess  this 
saving  sense  of  humor.  It  leads  to  good  judgment.  It 


1 56  Ideals    and   Democracy 

ofttimes  restrains  us  from  doing  the  unkind  or  unjust  thing 
to  another  or  the  unwise  thing  to  ourselves.  It  curbs  us 
and  keeps  us  from  trouble.  It  makes  us  happy  and 
contented  and  young  and  full  of  health  and  vigor. 

And  what  right  have  we  to  be  out  of  humor  and  pes- 
simistic? If  others  lack  this  virtue,  it  is  a  calamity;  if 
we  lack  it,  it  is  a  crime.  Think  you  that  Stevenson  and 
Homer  and  Milton  were  downcast  and  out  of  sorts? 
Forced  to  leave  home  and  society,  frail  in  body  but  in 
spirit  free,  Stevenson  to  the  last  was  ever  hopeful,  inspir- 
ing, cheering,  uplifting.  Helen  Keller,  deprived  of  the 
senses  which  to  us  seem  indispensable,  has  accomplished 
more  in  a  few  short  years  than  many  a  man  or  woman  in 
a  long  life.  And  throughout,  what  a  sense  of  humor  has 
been  hers,  what  cheerfulness,  what  comradeship ! 

When  vexed  with  your  neighbor  or  irritated  with  self, 
when  out  of  sorts  with  creeds  and  politics  and  society, 
when  things  at  home  go  wrong,  when  pleasure  palls  and 
business  is  a  burden,  when  the  day  is  dull  and  because  of 
your  own  blurred  vision  every  man  seems  to  think  only 
of  self,  read  you  then,  and  read  again,  from  one  who  sang 
and  sang: 

"The  day  returns  and  brings  us  the  petty  round  of 
irritating  concerns  and  duties.  Help  us  to  play  the  man, 
help  us  to  perform  them  with  laughter  and  kind  faces, 
let  cheerfulness  abound  with  industry.  Give  us  to  go 
blithely  on  our  business  all  this  day,  bring  us  to  our  rest- 
ing beds  weary  and  content  and  undishonored,  and  grant 
us  in  the  end  the  gift  of  sleep." l 

That  the  one  who  is  possessed  of  the  saving  sense  of 
humor  is  also  the  one  with  vision  and  insight  will  be  found 
the  exception  only  sufficient  to  prove  the  rule.  A  con- 
stant looking  inward,  a  thinking  of  self,  a  mind  given  to 

1  Prayer  at  Morning,  by  Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 


Attainable  Ideals  157 

growling  and  complaint  will  accomplish  little.  Those  who 
see  the  rift  in  the  cloud,  and  who  turn  their  thoughts  from 
themselves  to  others,  are  well  on  their  way 

/"*?  '    ' 

tx>  prosperity  of  mind.  Imagination  and  impiill  ™r™t 
insight  are  essential  to  produce  richness  of  perspective  and 
life.  To  possess  clear  vision  means  that  the  balanced  ™™ 
eye  sees  in  perfect  perspective  and  the  mind  attains  a 
thoroughly  balanced  view.  The  visionless  mind  impover- 
ishes the  real  self  as  the  sightless  eye  beggars  the  powers 
of  description.  How  clearly  is  this  set  forth  by  Saxe 
in  his  delineation  of  the  reactions  of  the  four  men,  who, 
blind,  were  first  placed  in  contact  with  the  elephant. 
The  first,  who  grasped  the  elephant's  tail,  declared  it  a 
rope;  the  second,  who  laid  hold  upon  the  trunk,  pro- 
nounced it  a  serpent;  the  third  man,  with  hand  [placed 
upon  the  tusks,  proclaimed  them  the  horns  of  a  steer; 
while  the  fourth  man,  on  leaning  against  the  animal,  said 
he  was  leaning  against  a  wall. 

Sentiment  aside,  and  confronted  by  the  so-called  com- 
monplace of  daily  existence,  the  fact  is  borne  in  upon 
us  that  vision  is  a  virtue.  Did  Washington,  think  you, 
possess  vision  through  the  trials  of  that  fearful  winter  at 
Valley  Forge?  Surrounded  by  the  most  disheartening 
conditions;  his  men  scantily  clothed  and  poorly  nourished; 
with  finances  at  low  ebb  and  ammunition  scarce;  with 
sickness  laying  its  devastating  hand  upon  his  wasted 
followers,  and  criticism's  echoes  becoming  daily  more 
audible— through  it  all  the  great  leader  held  to  his  vision. 
Himself  inspired,  he  thus  inspired  others.  Did  Clara 
Barton  possess  vision  when,  away  yonder  in  the  East, 
amid  shot  and  shell  and  desolation  and  death  she  went  in 
and  out  upon  the  field  of  battle,  seeking  out  the  wounded 
and  distressed?  Did  the  lad  who  saved  his  friend  while 
losing  his  own  life;  the  father  who  sacrificed  himself  that 


1 58  Ideals   and   Democracy 

the  daughter  might  be  spared ;  the  humble  workman  who, 
far  within  the  mine,  deliberately  gave  his  own  life  that  the 
scores  of  miners  in  a  distant  part  of  the  workings  might  be 
freed — did  these  hold  before  the  mind  the  vision  ?  Was  the 
Great  Teacher  possessed  of  vision  when  he  answered  the 
query,  "Who  is  my  neighbor?"  Was  it  vision  that  held 
Columbus  to  his  course  as  he  crept  across  the  trackless 
ocean?  Says  Joaquin  Miller  in  his  Columbus: 

"  Behind  him  lay  the  gray  Azores, 

Behind  the  Gates  of  Hercules; 
Before  him  not  the  ghost  of  shores, 

Before  him  only  shoreless  seas. 
The  good  mate  said:  'Now  must  we  pray, 

For  lo!  the  very  stars  are  gone. 
Brave  Admiral,  speak,  what  shall  I  say?' 

'Why,  say,  "Sail  on!  sail  on!  and  on!'" 

*'  He  gained  a  world;  he  gave  that  world 
Its  grandest  lesson:  On!  sail  on!" 

"Are  you  an  engineer?"  questioned  the  manager  of  a 
great  corporation  of  a  lieutenant  who  had  been  suggested 
as  one  competent  to  carry  out  a  tremendous  undertaking, 
involving  the  expenditure  of  a  vast  sum  of  money  and 
requiring  a  high  order  of  engineering  skill.  "No,"  came 
the  prompt  reply,  "but  I  know  when  I  need  an  engineer." 
With  keen  vision  this  guiding  genius  brought  to  a  success- 
ful termination  a  project  that  would  have  foiled  many  a 
man  of  narrow  insight  yet  possessed  of  all  the  learning  of 
the  schools. 

The  worth  of  insight,  imagination,  vision,  is  not  to  be 
questioned  in  the  commercial  world.  The  more  matter- 
of-fact  the  age,  the  keener  the  spirit  of  competition,  the 
faster  the  race  for  industrial  supremacy,  the  greater  is  the 
need  for  a  looking  out  and  beyond  the  immediate  sur- 
roundings and  conditions.  To  be  successful,  the  business 


Attainable  Ideals  159 

man  must  anticipate  the  output  of  soil  and  mine  and 
forest.  He  must  evaluate  supply  and  demand,  must 
prophesy  weather  and  figure  transportation, 

and  reckon  with  law  and  labor.    A  hit-and-   .„  V1i.sion  an 
v       .    ,     ,  r       ,v          ...   £  A     .,    idealized  real 

miss  policy  is  but  fumbling  with  fortune.   And 

just  as  true  is  it  that  in  the  less  tangible  though  equally 
important  sphere  of  culture,  this  vision  is  necessary. 
Intellectual  quickening  is  conditioned  thereon.  Enjoy- 
ment that  lasts  and  ideals  that  enrich  look  back  upon 
these  visions.  Vision  is  more  than  castle  building,  for 
the  castle  may  be  without  foundation  and  constructed  by 
a  dreamer.  The  vision  is  an  idealized  real. 

Ideals  of  integrity  and  high  moral  purpose  are  essen- 
tial in  a  successful  man,  a  prosperous  business,  or  a 
stable  state.  A  democracy,  to  be  established  The  country 
and  to  exist,  must  be  the  symbol  not  for  needs  honest 
things  but  for  men.  What  the  country  needs 
is  not  dollars  but  clear-eyed,  well-poised,  high-minded, 
honest  men — men  who  know  the  right  and  whose  honor 
cannot  be  impeached,  whose  business  life  is  a  revelation 
of  the  moral  life  behind  it  all.  We  want  men  who  realize 
their  responsibility  and  who  have  the  courage  of  their 
convictions. 

Dr.  George  L.  Spinning  quotes  Mr.  Roosevelt  in  an 
interview  concerning  the  injustice  done  the  American 
Indian.  After  Dr.  Spinning  had  described  to  the  President 
the  condition  of  the  Indian,  his  misery  and  wretched- 
ness, the  false  promises  that  had  been  made  him  and 
how  even  the  land  that  had  been  given  him  had  been 
again  taken  away,  the  President  replied:  "This  is  not 
politics;  this  is  not  righteousness,  and  righteousness  is 
what  we  are  here  to  do!" 

Our  commercial  honor  needs  repairing.    Not  only  as 


160  Ideals    and   Democracy 

individuals,  but  in  a  civic  and  a  national  sense  this  holds 
true.  Little  by  little  the  moral  sense  of  whole  commu- 
The  thief  vs  ^ties  goes  wrong.  Individuals,  from  selfish 
the  king  motives,  are  dishonest ;  families  become  mor- 

ally degenerate;  cities  grow  corrupt;  nations 
fall  into  decay.  There  are  in  every  community  men  and 
women  who  consider  themselves  perfectly  honest,  who 
would  not  defraud  a  friend,  yet  who,  if  opportunity  offered, 
would  not  hesitate  to  withhold  the  fare  from  the  street-car 
conductor.  There  are  those  in  whose  hands  a  neighbor's 
goods  would  be  as  safe  as  in  their  own,  but  who  would 
take  a  spoon  or  a  napkin  from  a  hotel  table  simply  as  a 
souvenir.  There  are  individuals  in  many  towns  and  cities 
whose  public  ideals  are  so  inadequate  as  to  make  dis- 
honor, immorality,  and  corruption  so  common  as  to  call 
for  slight  comment  on  the  part  of  those  living  in  this 
atmosphere.  There  are  localities  wherein  the  man  who 
takes  ten  dollars  in  the  ordinary  manner  is  branded  a  thief 
and  suffers  accordingly,  while  he  who  defrauds  the  public 
out  of  a  million  dollars  is  a  king  of  finance  and  goes 
unpunished.  From  the  common  criminal  to  the  court  of 
justice  one  looks  in  vain  for  a  high  moral  standard. 
Crime  is  alike  in  high  planes  and  low,  and  when  an  honest 
man  is  found — I  say  honest,  for  there  are  no  degrees  of 
honesty — his  bravery  is  rewarded  at  first  with  sneers. 
Such  a  man  comes,  however,  to  be  the  admiration  of  all, 
for  even  the  dishonest  fear  and  admire  honor.  Such  is 
the  situation  put  at  its  extreme  point.  But  the  thirst 
for  riches  has  become  a  game,  so  widespread  as  to  make 
The  value  ^  a  menace»  and  ideals  of  integrity  and  moral- 
of  right  ity,  of  simplicity  and  straightforward  dealing, 

must  be  inculcated  in  the  younger  generation 
at  home  and  in  the  school.  When  Matthew  Arnold  said 
that  "Conduct  is  three-fourths  of  our  life  and  its  largest 


Attainable  Ideals  ifa 

concern," l  he  could  have  added  that  the  remaining  fourth 
was  conduct  also.  Conduct  is  character,  and  Beardshear2 
has  put  it  strongly  thus : 

" After  all,  the  most  substantial  value  of  earth  or  sky  is 
right  character.  It  passes  current  in  every  world.  It 
is  not  subject  to  fire  and  storm.  Robbers  cannot  molest 
it,  nor  rust  corrode,  nor  devils  hinder.  It  is  the  most 
liberal  of  educations.  Its  beauty  surpasses  that  of  the 
stars  and  of  the  human  face.  Character  is  the  security 
of  commerce,  the  wealth  of  nations,  the  light  of  the  home, 
and  the  hope  of  the  world.  Use  it  and  it  is  more.  Its 
possession  impoverishes  no  one  and  enriches  the  world. 
Give  character  eternities  and  it  is  a  never-fading  youth. 
It  is  the  seed  of  a  myriad  aeons  and  the  handiwork  of 
an  infinite  loving  God.  It  is  good  to  live  by,  and,  best 
of  all,  to  spend  eternity  by." 

He  speaks  truly  who  says,  "To  form  character  is  to 
form  grooves  in  which  are  to  flow  the  purposes  of  our 
lives." 

In  speaking  of  the  ideal  of  integrity,  of  high  moral 
purpose  and  strict  honesty,  I  have  in  mind  no  sentimental, 
Sabbath-day  type  of  the  article.   I  am  think- 
ing rather  of  that  kind  of  honesty  and  moral-  ^^  conducive 

ity  that  is  on  the  bottom  of  the  box  as  well          ,    to  civic 
.al          .         -.,     ,  righteousness 

as  on  the  top ;  that  is  with  us  in  solitude  as 

well  as  in  company;  that  is  on  call  seven  days  of  each  week. 
"  You  cannot  judge  a  man's  life  by  the  success  of  a  moment. 
You  must  know  his  life  as  a  whole. "  An  ideal  that  makes 
for  right  because  it  is  right,  and  not  from  policy,  is  the 
kind  we  want.  '  A  civic  righteousness  that  holds  the  right 
of  the  people  at  large  as  co-equal  with  that  of  one's  family; 

1  Literature  and  Dogma. 

8  William   Miller  Beardshear,    A   Boy  Again  and  Other  Prose 
Poems,  p.  1 86. 
11 


162  Ideals    and   Democracy 

that  considers  the  country's  honor  as  sacred  as  personal 
honor;  that  makes  obligations  toward  corporations  or 
strangers  as  binding  as  those  touching  a  friend  or  brother 
—  this  is  the  civic  righteousness  needed  to-day,  and  to 
attain  this  standard  we  must  set  high  ideals. 

Some  one  has  said  that  a  better  life  and  a  better  law  in 
this  country  does  not  imply  a  revision  of  the  Constitution ; 
Civilization  ^  means  rather  that  we  must  revise  our  own 
the  product  of  constitutions.  There  is  a  world  of  philoso- 
realized  ideals  phy  in  ^  utterance  of  David  Harum  when 

he  states  that  we  cannot  have  an  "honest  hoss  race  until 
we  have  an  honest  human  race."  Ideals  of  honor  are 
becoming  more  and  more  popular  every  day.  No  people 
is  truly  civilized  until  ideals  of  honor  and  high  moral 
purpose  have  developed  into  everyday  realities;  and 
these  ideals  can  never  be  realized  until  man  understands 
that  it  is  "not  intellectual  statements  of  opinion  that 
count,  but  the  ability  to  recognize  the  relation  of  God 
to  man."  It  is  "better  to  swim  and  live  in  a  clear  stream 
than  to  sink  in  a  mud  hole." 

The  demand  to-day  is  for  individuals  who  are  absolutely 
honest;  who  cannot  be  bribed  or  frightened  or  coerced 
into  doing  that  which  they  know  to  be  wrong  or  unworthy. 

"Whatever  we  have  dared  to  think 
That  dare  we  also  do. " 

In  talking  to  a  friend  recently  he  repeated  a  statement 
made  to  him  by  a  fellow  townsman.  "  How  do  you  know 
that  to  be  a  fact?"  said  I.  My  friend  looked  at  me  in 
amazement.  "He  told  me  so,"  was  his  simple  comment. 
He  told  me  so !  That  was  sufficient.  When  this  man  said 
a  thing  my  friend  knew  it  to  be  the  absolute  truth.  The 
man's  word  was  complete  guarantee  of  fact.  Those  who 
knew  him  appreciated  the  worth  of  the  man. 


Attainable  Ideals 

We  sometimes  speak  in  terms  of  veneration  of  the 
man  who  is  known  to  be  absolutely  honest.  The  un- 
common thing,  however,  should  be  to  find  the  The  real 
man  who  is  dishonest.  Men  commonly  lack  American 
what  has  already  been  spoken  of  as  backbone.  nmi 

We  fear  the  sneer  or  criticism  of  those  who  wish  us  to 
follow  the  lead  of  the  mass.    We  dare  not  stand  alone 
even  though  we  know  we  are  in  the  right.    We  shrink 
from  unpopularity.     We  must  be  with  the  crowd  or  "on 
the  fence,"  lest  we  lose  prestige  or  social  standing,  or, 
perchance,  a  customer  from  our  business.     Daily  do  we 
come  in  contact  with  so-called  well-meaning  men  who 
insist  they  must  give  short  weight  or  wink  at  a  shady 
business  transaction  because  other  business  men  do  the 
same.  '  The  spirit  of  get-rich-quick  is  contagious.    Money 
we  believe  to  be  necessary  because  we  are  possessed  of  the 
desire  to  make  an  equal  showing  with  our  neighbors  in 
everything  other  than  the  things  of  the  spirit.     "What 
America  needs  more  than  railway  extension,  and  Western 
irrigation,  and  a  low  tariff,  and  a  bigger  wheat  crop,  and  a 
merchant  marine,  and  a  new  navy,  is  a  revival  of  piety,  the 
kind  mother  and  father  used  to  have — piety  that  counted 
it  good  business  to  stop  for  daily  family  prayers  before 
breakfast,  right  in  the  middle  of  the  harvest;  that  quit 
work  a  half  hour  earlier  Thursday  night,  so  as  to  get  the 
chores  done  and  go  to  prayer  meeting;  that  borrowed 
money  to  pay  the  preacher's  salary  and  prayed  fervently 
in  secret  for  the  salvation  of  the  rich  man  who  looked  with 
scorn  on  such  unbusiness-like  behavior.    That 's  what  we 
need  now  to  clean  this  country  of  the  filth  of  graft,  and  of 
greed,  petty  and  big;  of  worship  of  fine  houses  and  big 
lands  and  high  office  and  grand  social  functions.    What 
is  this  thing  which  we  are  worshipping  but  a  vain  repetition 
of  what  decayed  nations  fell  down  and  worshipped  just 


164  Ideals   and   Democracy 

before  their  light  went  out  ?  Read  the  history  of  Rome  in 
decay  and  you'll  find  luxury  there  that  could  lay  a  big 
dollar  over  our  little  doughnut  that  looks  so  large  to  us. 
Great  wealth  never  made  a  nation  substantial  nor  honor- 
able. There  is  nothing  on  earth  that  looks  good  that  is  so 
dangerous  for  a  man  or  a  nation  to  handle  as  quick,  easy, 
big  money.  If  you  do  resist  its  deadly  influence  the 
chances  are  that  it  will  get  your  son.  It  takes  greater  and 
finer  heroism  to  dare  to  be  poor  in  America  than  to  charge 
on  earthworks  in  Manchuria. "  l 

A  prominent  clergyman,  fired  with  enthusiasm  and 
dominated  by  high  ideals,  had  as  a  listener  from  Sunday 
to  Sunday  a  young  business  man  of  great 
competition  promise  and  sterling  qualities.  In  course 
discourages  of  time  this  parishioner  became  wavering  in 
attendance,  and  he  finally  left  the  church 
entirely.  Inquiry  on  the  part  of  the  clergyman  drew 
from  the  business  man  the  statement  that  he  had  found 
it  absolutely  impossible  to  follow  the  teachings  of  the 
minister,  which  he  knew  to  be  right,  and  at  the  same 
time  make  a  success  of  his  business.  He  had  used  every 
endeavor  to  be  straightforward  and  just  in  his  dealings. 
But  his  competitors  were  not  honest,  and  his  customers 
slipped  away  from  him.  He  must  make  a  living,  and  he 
could  not  lend  himself  to  hypocrisy  by  pretending  to 
believe  in  the  lessons  enunciated  by  the  minister. 

Bad  as  the  situation  is,  it  is  much  less  serious  than  the 
young  business  man  pictured  it.  One  honest  man  in  a 
community  where  ideals  are  at  a  low  ebb  may  soon  create 
a  changed  sentiment,  and  little  by  little  the  moral  tone  of 
the  entire  community  may  be  raised.  We  should  expect 
honesty  in  every  transaction  and  should  boldly  denounce 

1  Editorial  in  the  Wall  Street  Journal,  reprinted  by  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


Attainable  Ideals  165 

any  attempt  at  corruption.  Purchasing  a  paper  from  a 
newsboy  in  a  strange  city,  I  handed  him  a  nickel  and 
walked  away.  This  was  the  price  I  paid  for  my  morning 
paper  at  home.  After  me  ran  the  newsboy  to  return  to 
me  some  pennies.  I  thanked  him  cordially  and  accepted 
the  change.  "But,"  say  the  critics,  "you  should  have 
allowed  him  to  keep  the  change  as  a  reward  for  his  hon- 
esty." Must  then  the  individual  be  rewarded  for  being 
honest  ?  Must  we  put  a  premium  upon  common  decency 
as  if  we  rather  expected  every  man  to  be  a  knave? 

The  young  business  man,  had  he  followed  his  inclina- 
tions, would  have  conducted  a  legitimate  business.  With 
backbone  and  a  determination  to  be  oneself  one  may  easily 
retain  his  self-respect.  To  be  successful  it  is  necessary 
to  play  the  part  of  success.  "You  play  many  parts," 
said  his  friend  to  a  great  actor  of  the  day.  "You  play 
Henry  the  Eighth,  and  King  Lear,  and  Hamlet,  and 
Caesar,  and  Macbeth.  How  do  you  impersonate  them 
all  so  successfully?"  "Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "I  play 
many  parts.  I  play  Henry  the  Eighth,  I  play  Lear,  I 
play  Hamlet  and  Caesar,  but  I  am  Macbeth!" 

It  is  not  the  simple  thing  to  live  as  one  ought  to  live, 
but  it  is  the  courageous  thing.  In  political  life  the 

individual  man  or  the  small  group  originates 

j       Pohti'Cdl 
the  movement  looking    toward    an   improved        ,ideals 

condition  of  affairs.  This  man  or  group  of 
men  are  subject  to  jest,  and  scorn,  and  ridicule,  and 
threat;  but  the  movement,  in  the  beginning  restricted 
and  unpopular,  may  develop  into  one  of  state-wide  char- 
acter. It  no  longer  is  regarded  as  unpatriotic  to  forsake 
a  party  ticket  and  vote  for  the  honest  candidate,  regard- 
less of  party  affiliation.  "The  man  who  for  party  for- 
sakes righteousness  goes  down,  and  the  armed  battlements 
of  God  march  over  him."  We  are  coming  to  understand 


166  Ideals    and   Democracy 

that  there  is  no  inherent  righteousness  in  a  party.  Only 
as  the  party  offers  the  most  convenient  channel  for  the 
establishing  and  maintaining  of  a  principle  is  the  party  to 
be  righteous.  If  men  are  not  honest  with  themselves  the 
party  to  which  they  belong  must  needs  be  corrupt,  and 
the  state  is  made  to  suffer.  For  victory  at  the  expense 
of  corruption  is  less  than  victory.  Our  experiments  in 
popular  government  have  more  than  once  demonstrated 
the  truth  of  William  Jones's  reply  to  his  query: 

"What  constitutes  a  State?   .    .    .   Men,  who  their  duties  know, 
But  know  their  rights,  and  knowing,  dare  maintain."  1 

No  man  should  be  tied  to  party.  He  who  votes  with 
his  party  against  his  better  judgment,  simply  that  party 
standards  may  be  maintained,  sacrifices  his  right  to  be 
called  a  good  citizen.  He  is  loyal  to  neither  state  nor 
nation.  Many  a  man  will  stay  with  his  party  in  a  state 
or  national  contest,  but  reserves  the  right  to  vote  for 
individuals  and  for  principles  in  a  local  or  municipal 
election.  In  the  former  instance  he  allows  himself  to  be 
tied  hand  and  foot.  A  voter  should  stand  by  his  party,  if 
he  has  one,  so  long  as  the  party  holds  for  what  he  knows 
to  be  right  and  for  the  best  interest  of  society  at  large. 
All  of  this  means  independence  of  thought;  a  desire  to 
strive  for  and  uphold  the  right  as  the  light  is  revealed; 
a  determination  to  keep  clear  of  the  spoils  of  office,  the 
dishonest  practices  of  commercial  life,  and  the  littleness 
of  things  that  drag  personal  integrity  in  the  dust.  Every- 
where strong,  courageous,  determined  men  and  women 
are  making  popular  a  movement  that  has  for  its  object 
the  dignifying  of  personal  cleanliness.  They  are  demand- 
ing that  our  commercial  relations  at  home  and  abroad  be 
above  criticism.  They  are  closing  the  gateway  for  the 

i  Ode  in  Imitation  of  Alcceus. 


Attainable   I  deals  ifij 

payment  of  political  debts  through  the  appointment  of 
incompetent  or  graft-seeking  office  holders.  They  are 
creating  a  public  opinion  that  shall  render  it  difficult  for 
Boards  or  Commissions  to  long  continue  practices  that 
are  to  the  disgrace  of  the  community  and  dangerous 
to  the  public,  but  that  have  been  continued  as  no  one 
cared  or  dared  to  raise  a  voice  in  protest  against  the 
distemper  of  the  time.  Of  these  strong,  courageous, 
determined  men  and  women  there  is  daily  an  increasing 
number.  The  triumph  of  individual  honesty  and  social 
integrity  demands  a  rallying  to  the  standards. 

"God  give  us  men!     A  time  like  this  demands 
Strong  minds,  great  hearts,  true  faith  and  ready  hands: 
Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  does  not  kill, 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy; 
Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will; 

Men  who  have  honor — men  who  will  not  lie; 
Men  who  can  stand  before  a  demagogue 

And  damn  his  treacherous  flatteries  without  winking; 
Tall  men,  sun-crowned,  who  live  above  the  fog 

In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking — 
For  while  the  rabble,  with  their  thumj>worn  creeds, 
Their  large  professions  and  their  little  deeds, 
Mingle  in  selfish  strife,  lo!  Freedom  weeps, 
Wrong  rules  the  land,  and  waiting  Justice  sleeps. "  1 

He  who  has  missed  the  joy  that  comes  from  rendering 
service  has  cheated  himself.  The  call  of  the  dollar  may 
be  so  loud  as  to  drown  the  call  for  service. 
The  sordid,  selfish  individual,  if  he  think  only  Of 
of  self,  becomes  more  sordid.  The  miser 
thinks  only  of  accumulating.  He  contributes  nothing  to 
the  common  welfare;  he  enters  not  at  all  into  the  civic 
or  community  life.  A  large  class  of  respected  and  more 
or  less  respectable  folk  evade  the  assessor  if  they  can,  pay ' 

1  True  Men,  by  J.  G.  Holland 

12 


168  Ideals    and   Democracy 

their  taxes  only  after  protest,  offer  themselves  never  in 
the  interest  of  public  service,  keep  away  from  the  polls 
on  primary  or  election  day,  and  actually  believe  or  pre- 
tend to  believe  they  are  well  within  the  bounds  of  the 
law.  These  people,  many  of  them  possessing  wealth  and 
education,  contribute  nothing  to  the  life  of  the  commu- 
nity. Only  as  they  are  enumerated  in  the  census  sheet 
are  their  fellow  townsmen  aware  of  their  presence.  Life 
is  not  measured  by  length  of  day  or  size  of  bank  account. 

"We  live  in  deeds,  not  years;  in  thoughts,  not  breaths; 
In  feelings,  not  in  figures  on  a  dial. "  ! 

The  unspoiled,  natural  child  is  happy  in  his  giving  and 
joyous  in  his  serving.  The  helpful  people  are  those  who 
carry  the  spirit  of  the  child  into  their  daily  lives. 

Before  a  rude  fireplace,  stretched  out  upon  the  floor,  his 
only  light  coming  from  the  smouldering  logs,  I  see  a  boy, 
and  beside  him  the  Bible,  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  the 
dictionary.  And  as  he  reads  he  patiently  turns  from  time 
to  time  to  consult  the  dictionary.  As  a  youth  I  see  him 
in  a  clearing,  surrounded  by  trees  that  his  own  ax  has 
felled  and  from  which  he  is  splitting  fence  rails.  Again 
I  see  him,  still  a  youth,  but  doing  the  work  of  a  man, 
plying  back  and  forth  upon  the  mighty  Mississippi.  As 
a  young  man  he  stands  with  his  companion  in  the  city 
away  yonder  by  the  Gulf,  before  the  block  upon  which 
the  slaves  are  sold,  and  as  he  looks  and  listens  his  fists 
clench  and  his  eyes  glisten  as  he  says:  "If  ever  I  get  a 
chance  I  '11  hit  this  accursed  institution  and  I  '11  hit  it 
hard."  And  as  the  President  of  this  great  republic  I  see 
him  signing  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  that  struck 
the  chains  from  an  innumerable  company.  To  the  poor 
in  spirit  and  the  penniless  in  purse  he  gave  advice  as  a 

iFestus,  scene,  "A  Country  Town,"  by  Philip  James  Bailey. 


Attainable   Ideals  i6g 

lawyer,  and  no  fee  would  tempt  him  to  work  in  an  unright- 
eous cause.  He  suffered  alike  with  his  soldiers  and  with 
his  opponents.  This  man's  whole  life  was  one  of  service, 
and  not  alone  the  people  of  our  own  country  but  those 
in  the  most  remote  corners  of  the  world  remember  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  He  lives  to-day  and  forever. 

"He  was  the  North,  the  South,  the  East,  the  West, 
The  thrall,  the  master,  all  of  us  in  one. "  > 

Not  what  can  I  get  out  of  a  thing,  but  rather,  what  can 
I  put  into  it?  This  is  the  spirit.  We  are  to-day,  more 
than  ever  before,  one  great  family,  each  member  dependent 
upon  his  fellows. 

One  cold  winter  morning,  while  awaiting  a  train  in  an 
elevated  station  in  New  York  City,  a  newsboy  approached 
me.  His  coat  was  thin  and  ragged,  his  hat  tattered,  his 
shoes  out  at  the  toes,  his  fingers  blue  with  cold.  Not 
more  than  nine  years  of  age,  he  wore  pendent  from  a 
buttonhole  in  his  coat  a  tag  upon  which  was  printed: 
"I  will  give  ten  per  cent  of  my  earnings  to-day  to  the 
Philadelphia  strikers."  As  I  bought  my  paper  a  man  at 
my  side  advised  jthe  boy  to  keep  his  money  and  purchase 
a  pair  of  shoes.  As  I  read  my  paper  the  thought  kept 
crowding  into  my  mind  that  the  newsboy  was  learning  one 
of  the  greatest  lessons  in  life,  the  lesson  of  service.  What 
matter  the  justice  or  injustice  of  the  strike?  In  Phila- 
delphia there  were  suffering  mothers  and  starving  children. 
Poverty  and  want  and  privation  were  abroad,  and  the 
boy  was  learning  that  suffering  anywhere  meant  suffering 
for  him.  His  sacrifice  of  self  meant  service  for  others. 
Perhaps  after  all  he  was  the  gainer  for  his  act. 

No  better  illustration  comes  to  me  of  the  unselfish 
character  and  the  one  who  sought  to  serve  than  that  of  the 

i  Lincoln's  Grave,  by  Maurice  Thompson. 


Ideals    and   Democracy 

life  and  work  of  William  Wallace  Stetson.  The  following 
was  written  while  Mr.  Stetson  was  lying  ill ;  and  although 
well  aware  he  could  not  remain  to  see  the  Christmas 
dawn,  he  desired  his  friends  to  have  his  last  message: 

"Souls  grow  lean  if  they  think  much  of  self  or  the 
recompense  they  should  receive  for  exhibitions  of  concern 
for  others.  They  are  victims  of  a  poverty  no  riches  can 
relieve  or  conceal.  They  are  barred  from  those  sanctu- 
aries where  the  heart  sings  the  songs  of  peace.  As  the 
days  loiter  to  their  close  they  discover  life  is  a  sleepless 
torture.  They  refuse  to  learn  it  is  not  what  you  have 
that  makes  happiness  but  the  sacrifice  made  and  forgot- 
ten that  brings  joys  which  abide.  Life  yields  the  larg- 
est dividends  when  you  serve  as  spontaneously  as  you 
breathe  and  with  as  little  aftermath  of  reflection.  When 
this  truth  illumines  your  dome  you  will  exalt  daily  tasks 
by  associating  with  them  tropical  greetings,  assuring 
welcomes,  honest  smiles,  strengthening  words,  comforting 
deeds,  delicate  praises  and  ante-mortem  recognitions. 
Then  you  will  walk  with  those  who  travel  in  lonely 
paths,  place  a  lifting  hand  beneath  wearying  burdens, 
give  unregretted  dollars  to  carry  sunshine  into  shadowed 
lives,  dispense  home-brewed  hospitalities  and  nerve  the 
elect  with  your  hail  and  God-speed.  Such  service  will 
tint  the  dawn  when  your  lovers  are  legion,  shed  around 
you  'the  light  that  never  was  on  sea  or  land,'  sing  anthems 
in  the  chancel  of  your  soul  and  let  you  whisper,  as  the 
canvas  of  the  Lord  slips  down  the  west, 

'"I  hope  to  see  my  Pilot  face  to  face 
When  I  have  crost  the  bar.1 "  * 

Ideals  of  service  and  of  responsibility  are  given  all  too 
small  a  place  in  our  conception  of  things.  To  develop 

1  The  Joy  of  Serving  was  written  as  a  Christmas  Greeting  for 
1910. 


Attainable  Ideals  171 

a  true  democracy  man  must  be  fired  with  love  for  his 
fellows  and  be  ready  to  render  service  in  their  behalf. 
Man  too  must  recognize  his  responsibilities,  not  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  mass  only  but  as  an  individual.  He 
must  look  upon  himself  as  one  of  the  responsible  elements 
of  which  society  is  composed  and  appreciate  that  he  is 
to  become  great  only  as  he  is  privileged  to  serve.  Man 
must  strive  not  to  be  too  great  to  render  service  but  to 
humble  himself  that  he  may  be  exalted  enough  to  serve. 
The  history  of  nations  shows  that  they  were  well  on 
their  way  to  decline  when  the  people  began  to  live  away 

from  the  idea  of  responsibility.    As  responsi- 

Al_      ,     .  J  The  birth 

bihty  is  felt,  the  desire  to  serve  is  strength-  Of  democracy 

ened.     Let  the  desire  to  serve,  however,  never 
degenerate  into  a  desire  for  glory,  or  position,  or  applause. 
Ideals  of  responsibility  and  service  mean  brotherly  love 
achieved,  and  out  of  brotherly  love  is  born  democracy. 

An  individual  responsibility  means  a  united  responsi- 
bility, and  a  service  by  individuals  means  a  joint  service. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  July,  1908,  I  sat  with  a 
vast  company  of  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  persons 
in  the  great  stadium  in  London  and  witnessed  the  finish 
of  the  world's  famous  Marathon  race,  the  first  ever  run 
outside  the  continent.  Within  the  inclosure  we  saw  the 
sixteen-hundred-meters  relay  race  won  by  the  Americans; 
on  this  day  the  pole  vault  record  was  broken  by  an 
American,  and  the  high  hurdles,  the  shot  put,  and  the 
hammer  throw  were  won  by  representatives  of  the  United 
States.  But  while  these  events  and  others  were  taking 
place  in  the  stadium,  fifty-seven  men,  representing  sixteen 
different  countries,  were  running  as  in  the  Marathon  races 
of  old;  running  under  the  scorching  sun  from  Windsor 
Castle  a  distance  of  twenty-six  miles  to  London;  running 
as  ran  Pheidippides  from  Marathon  to  Athens. 


if 2  Ideals    and   Democracy 

From  time  to  time,  as  news  of  the  race  would  reach  the 
stadium,  the  numbers  of  those  leading  would  be  displayed, 
and  as  their  names  became  known  through  reference  to 
the  printed  program  the  stadium  would  resound  with  the 
shouts  and  cheers  of  their  countrymen. 

As  mile  after  mile  was  covered,  Clark  of  Great  Britain 
and  Burn  of  Canada  were  each  in  turn  leading,  and  these 
gave  way  to  Hefferon  of  South  Africa,  to  Lord  and  Price 
of  Great  Britain,  and  in  their  turn  to  men  of  other 
countries,  but  no  word  from  representatives  of  our  own 
country  until  the  nineteenth  mile,  when  Hefferon,  an 
Italian  called  Durando,  and  a  man  named  Hayes  from  the 
United  States  were  in  the  lead.  And  from  that  moment 
until  the  finish,  one  hundred  thousand  persons  stood  upon 
the  seats  and  waved  their  hats  and  shouted,  and  one 
hundred  thousand  faces  turned  toward  the  entrance  to 
the  stadium ;  for  the  race  would  be  won  by  the  contestant 
who  should  first  make  a  half  circuit  of  the  track  and 
reach  the  tape  unaided.  From  the  twenty-mile  post  the 
Italian  led ;  the  American  seemed  to  be  forgotten,  and  when 
Durando  appeared  at  the  gate  he  was  greeted  with 
cheers  from  every  nation  there  represented.  But  he  was 
exhausted;  he  stumbled  and  fell,  and  officials  helped  him 
to  rise;  he  staggered  forward,  and  fell  again;  and  five 
times  he  fell,  and  as  many  times  was  raised  and  carried 
forward  by  willing  hands  until  he  reached  the  tape.  Now 
as  the  flag  of  Italy  was  flung  aloft  on  the  pole,  Hayes, 
the  American,  entered.  Those  of  us  who  gave  the  matter 
calm  consideration  knew  that  even  so  worthy  a  runner  as 
Durando  could  not  claim  the  race;  and  as  Hayes  started 
on  his  course  around  the  track  the  tension  was  broken  and 
the  cheers  were  deafening. 

The  United  States  is  commonly  spoken  of  by  English- 
men as  "the  States."  As  Hayes,  unaided  and  with 


Attainable  Ideals  173 

reserve  strength,  worked  his  way  down  the  track,  some 
one  shouted,  "The  American!  The  American!"  An 
Englishman,  who  was  as  enthusiastic  as  the  Democrat 
Americans  themselves,  cried  out,  and  with  impossible 
the  best  of  feeling,  "What  state  is  he  from?"  without  unity 
Quicker  than  I  can  tell  you,  an  American  at  my  right 
was  on  his  feet.  He  was  the  true  American.  For  him 
there  were  on  this  day  no  states,  no  territories,  no  divisions 
in  our  great  land;  no  New  York,  Chicago,  Boston,  San 
Francisco;  no  North  or  South,  no  East  or  West;  no  New 
England,  or  Mississippi  Valley,  or  Pacific  Coast.  There 
was  only  one  great,  undivided  country,  and  as  the  query 
came,  "What  state  is  he  from?"  this  American,  with 
fist  clenched,  with  eyes  ablaze,  and  in  a  voice  to  be  heard 
by  all  about  shouted,  "From  U.S.  A."  The  effect  was 
magical.  There  was  for  some  moments  the  silence  that 
sometimes  follows  a  benediction.  As  I  look  back  upon 
it  now,  this  event  furnishes  the  most  remarkable  illus- 
tration I  have  ever  known  of  the  value  of  unity.  One 
nation,  one  people,  one  sentiment,  one  goal.  There  were 
no  halfway  measures.  The  time  is  coming  in  this  country 
when  the  nation  is  to  rise  or  fall  as  honesty  or  dishonesty 
is  the  ruling  force.  There  can  be  no  compromise  in 
this.  And  until  the  ideal  of  a  oneness  in  honesty,  in 
purpose,  in  service,  is  before  all  the  people,  and  this  ideal 
has  developed  into  a  realization,  the  real  democracy  will 
not  be  upon  us. 


Are  You  Equal  To  Your  Task? 

"The  great  teacher,"  says  Orville  T.  Bright,  "whether  in 
the  country  school  or  the  university,  is  the  one  whose  work  is 
limited  only  to  his  possibilities— not  for  self  but  for  children." 

These  possibilities,  it  is  well  to  know,  may  be  greatly 
increased  by  the  use  of  books  like  these: 

BOOKS  FOR  TEACHERS 

Common  Sense  Didactics.     HENRY  SABIN,  Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction  for  the  State  of  Iowa  for  eight  years. 
The  teacher's  friend  and  guide,  full  of  common  sense,  inspiration,  and 
understanding  of  the  teacher  and  child.     Cloth,  343  pages      .       $1.00 

The    Child.     AM Y  ELIZA  TANNER.  Clark  University.  Worcester, 

Massachusetts. 

The  first  complete  scientific  treatise  on  the  child  —  his  thinking, 
feeling,  and  doing.  Cloth,  430  pages $1.25 

Education  for  Citizenship.  Dr.  GEORG  KERSCHENSTEINER. 

Member  of  the  Royal  Council  of  Education,  and  Director  of  the  Public 

Schools  of  Munich. 

The  purpose  of  the  book  is  to  make  of  children  better  men  and 
women,  to  place  before  them  a  noble  conception  of  civic  duty,  and  inspire 
them  to  live  it.  Cloth,  133  pages 75  cents 

The  Evolution  of  "Dodd."     WILLIAM  HAWLEY  SMITH 

A  forcible  illustration  in  story  form  of  t  he  teacher's  power  to  make 
or  mar  the  life  of  the  boy  in  her  care.  Cloth,  458  pages  .  60  cents 

Growing  a  Life.     CHARLES  A.  EVANS.  B.Sc.,  M.A..  President 

of  Central  State  Normal  School,  Edmond,  Oklahoma. 
Invigorating  in  thought,  the  book  upholds  with  enthusiasm  the  doctrine 
of  child  study  and  child  development.     Cloth,  214  pages     .      .     Ji.oo 


Geography    in    Horace    Mann    School,    Teachers'    College,    Columbia 

University,  New  York. 

Full  of  help  for  any  elementary  teacher  of  geography.  Cloth.  Ji.oo 

Five   Messages   for   Primary   Teachers.     NETTIE  ALICE 
SAWYER,  formerly  Supervisor  of  Primary  Education,  Seattle. 
Messages  rich  in  practical  suggestion,  as  well  as  exercises  for  develop- 
ing the  first-grade  child.    Cloth Ji.oo 

RAND  McNALLY  &  COMPANY 
CHICAGO  NEW  YORK 


KRSITY   OF  CALIFORNIA   LIBKAKY 
BERKELEY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

Books  not  returned  on  time  are  subject  to  a  fine  of 
50c  per  volume  after  the  third  d 

'iO  JM.T  volume  after  the  sixth  d;r 
d.-inand   in.-ty   U-   renewed   if   application    is   made   i 
expiration  of  loan  period. 


JUN  23  1920 


f.Om  7,'1G 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


